Naruto: the Moon blade
by Susanoo's Endless Darkness
Summary: Rewrite of The power of three Devils. Instead of just Naruto he has two sibling. Instead of just the Kyuubi attack the Rokubi attack with it. How will life be for them when they fall into the darkness that plagues them.
1. Chapter 1

**Naruto: The moon blade**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon/Huge Summoning/Inner Sakura talking"**

"_Flash Back"_

**A.N**

With the permission of Redcrimsonblood I have redone the story. I will try and keep some things the same but I will also be changing a lot of it. I hope you like it. If you don't tell me what it is that you don't like. And about the Minato's wife I will have too keep her as an Uchiha to fit the story.

Kyuubi attack

Namikaze Minato, Yondaime Hokage was waiting on a bench in the hospital. He was about 6'1" with golden blonde hair and cerulean blue eyes. He wore a white trench coat with red flames on the bottom and the kanji from Yondaime on his back. He has a hitai-ate on his forehead with a leaf symbol on it. 'This is the greatest day of my life.' He thought sarcastically. 'Everything was going well for me. I became Hokage, got a wife who's about to have my kids and look what happens.' He thought. He looked out the window to see a 100 meters tall nine tailed fox and a six tailed weasel attacking his shinobi just outside of Konoha. "Why does this have to fucking happen now?" He asked out loud. The demon attack made Namikaze Uchiha Haizai, his wife, go into labor early and the doctors told him that his wife might not make it. "Ugh! Damn it all!" He yelled out.

Suddenly the doctor out from the room that his wife is in with a grim look on his face. "Hokage-sama…I'm sorry, but she didn't make it." He said. "But she had three healthy children, one girl and two boys. She named the girl Namikaze Haigara." He said as two nurses came from the room holding his children wrapped in blankets.

Arashi felt like a flood hit him, Haizai was gone. He shut his eyes tightly steeling himself before opening them and looking at his children in the arms of the two nurses. The girl had black hair, and black eyes, just like her mother. He already knew what she'd be like. An Uchiha. Another boy looked just like him, "Namikaze Naruto." came out of his lips, and he smiled. He turned to the Blonde haired boy with black highlights, and blue eyes, with black in the middle. "Namikaze Shisou" A shiver went up his spine when he stared at his son's eyes. He shook his head, and walked to the battlefield after he dropped off Haigara with Sarutobi. He made sure they would stay together, after all, their will be orphans soon.

The last of the Namikaze clan, under disguise of the name Uzumaki.

He summoned Gamabunta, and sealed, the Kyuubi no Kitsune in Naruto, and Rokubi no Itachi in Shisou.

12 years later

Uzumaki Naruto was walking next to his teammates inside the academy. He is about 4 ft 9 inches tall. He has his hitai-ate on his forehead cover by a few of his blonde bangs. He wore a dark blue shirt, black cargo pants and shinobi sandals. He has two blue wristbands on both his wrist and a kunai pouch on his right thigh. On his back is an o-katana that is 55 inches overall. The hilt is wrapped in red leather. It has a golden guard and is in a black wooden scabbard. On his far right is a girl named Haruno Sakura who is 4 ft 10 inches tall. She is wearing a pink qipao and blue spandex shorts under it. She has her hitai-ate in her hair holding it back. In the middle of him and Sakura is a raven haired boy named Uchiha Sasuke. He is about 4 ft 11 inches and has his hitai-ate on his forehead. He has on a blue shirt with a red and with fan symbol on the back. He has on white shorts with a kunai hostler on his right thigh. Team 7 had only gone up one floor when they were stopped by a group of people who were standing in front of the door. In the middle of the group they watch two people keeping people from entering the room. Sasuke looked up at the sign, it read 301. Sasuke stepped in when the two ninja knocked down a kid wearing a green leotard and sported a bowl hair cut and bushy eyebrows.

"You plan on taking the Chuunin Exams like that? What makes you think you're good enough?" asked a kid with spiky hair.

"You guys should just quit now," said a second kid right next to him. He wore his hitai-ate like a bandana.

"You're all just little kids," the first one taunted.

"Please let us through," pleaded a girl with her hair in a double bun hair style. She was quickly knocked down by the two boys. Naruto narrowed his eyes at the boys as Sasuke smirked smugly and walked ahead of them.

"Listen, we're being nice, The Chuunin Exams aren't easy," said the first one.

"Of all those taking the exam," lectured the second, "Many will quit being shinobi, while others are unable to recover at all. We've seen it many times before."

"A Chuunin is the level of military platoon captains. The failure of a mission and the death of his men... That is all the responsibility of the captain." explained the first.

"We're just thinning out the ranks of those that will fail anyway. What's wrong with that?" asked the second.

"I agree," said Sasuke stepping in, Naruto and Sakura trailing behind him. "But... You'll let us pass through... Also, get rid of the genjutsu, we're going to the _third_ floor." Sasuke added. A second later there was a mass of whispering throughout the room at this proclamation.

"So you noticed, eh?" The second one asked not surprised in the least.

"Sakura, you must have noticed it first, right?" Sasuke asked looking to at her.

"Huh?" She replied

"Your analytical ability and genjutsu know how… is the most improved on our team." Sasuke said. Sasuke looked at Sasuke and smiled.

'Sasuke-kun.' She thought. "He, he Of course I noticed awhile ago. Because this is the second floor." Sakura said with a smug look. Naruto only nodded as the room number faded out before turning to 201.

"Hm, not bad but all you was able to do is see through it!!!" He said as he threw a kick at Sasuke. Sasuke did the same as Naruto frowned. He saw a blur appeared between Sasuke and the genin.

'Damn he as fast as Aniki.' Naruto thought as he stopped the kicks.

'Catching my kick with his hand. What's this chakra in his hand?' Sasuke thought. He let go of their legs as his two teammates walked closer to him.

"What happened to the plan? You're the one who said we shouldn't draw attention to ourselves." The boy said. He has pearl white eyes and is about 5 ft 2 inches tall. He has long black hair that goes to the middle of his back He is wearing a white jacket and black shorts with a kunai pouch on his right thigh.

"Well…" He said blushing and looking at Sakura. He turned towards her as Naruto shook his head. He felt a glare directed at him and turn to the person. His eyes narrowed as he looked at him.

'A Hyuuga.' thought Naruto, looking at the boy intently.

"Un no" The girl said shaking her head. The boy walked towards Sakura passing right by Sasuke.

'Their injuries have disappeared.' Sasuke thought. The bowl cut boy walked to Sakura with a smile on his face. He caught Naruto attention as he stopped in front of Sakura.

"Hi. My name is Rock Lee." Lee said to Sakura. "So yours is Sakura…" He started. He gave her a thumb up with a blinding smile. "Let's go out together!!! I'll protect you to the day I die." He said. Naruto stared in shock before as Sakura gave her reply.

"No…way…you're lame." Sakura said. Lee put his head down in shame.

"Hey, you..." said the paled eyed boy directing his eerie gaze at Sasuke. "What is your name?"

"When you want to learn someone's name, you should give your own first," said Sasuke in an arrogant tone.

"You're a rookie right?" asked the pale eyed boy. "How old are you?"

"I don't have to answer to you," replied Sasuke as the other boy narrowed his eyes.

"What?" the pale eyed boy asked coldly, as Ten-Ten giggled at their little stand off.

Sasuke arrogantly turned his back on the boy. "Sasuke, Sakura lets go." Naruto said with a disinterested tone. He turned around and walked away as Sasuke and Sakura followed.

"Hey dobe." Sasuke called as they got away from the crowd.

"What teme?" Naruto asked.

"What's up with you? Not only have you changed your clothing but you're quiet all of a sudden." Sasuke asked.

"I didn't think you cared enough to worry about me teme." Naruto said with a smirk on his face.

"I don't. I just don't want you screwing up the team." Sasuke replied as the walked through a large room.

"You! With the dark eyes, hold on!" The trio turned to see the genin in the green leotard behind them on a platform above them. Naruto raised an eyebrow, Sakura cringed, and Sasuke remained impassive.

"What?" Sasuke said.

"Would you fight me, right here, right now?" Lee said with a determined look on his face.

"A fight? Here and now?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes," Lee replied as he jumped over the banister and landed about a dozen feet from them. "My name is Rock Lee. When you want to learn a person's name you give your own first, right? _Uchiha Sasuke_."

"So you know?" asked Sasuke now intrigued.

"I want to fight you," said Lee taking an defensive stance, "I want to test just how far my techniques will go against a prodigy of a genius ninja clan." Lee then turned to Sakura, who cringed in fear and was beginning to freak out. "Plus..." he said as he blushed, "Sakura-san, Love..."

"Ewwwww..." That was Sakura's limit as she began to freak out, "Th-Those eyebrows... Just... Ewwwww!"

"You are an angel..." Lee said to her, oblivious to her obvious distaste.

"Just... No! Ewwwww! Stay away!" she shouted at the bushy eye-browed boy.

"You know, you don't have to be so... Negative..." said Lee, dismayed at her rejection.

Sasuke scoffed at Lee, "Challenging me, knowing the Uchiha name... You are a fool! You will learn what just what that name means, bushy-brows!" said a now scowling Sasuke.

"Great!" smirked Lee as he changed into his Goken (Strong Fist) stance. 'Finally Gai-sensei... I shall prove myself...'

Naruto blinked and turned to Sasuke. "You shouldn't fight him."

"Want him for yourself, Naruto?" asked Sasuke, an arrogant look on his face.

"No not really. I just don't want you to get beat up before the exam" said Naruto. Rock Lee smiled at this.

"Shut-up, Naruto," scolded Sakura, "Sasuke-kun is one of the best genins there is! Not to mention with the Sharingan he's practically unstoppable!"

'Fuck it. Lets see what happens.' Naruto thought shrugging.

"Ready?" asked Sasuke turning his attention back to Rock Lee. Naruto watched the fight in disinterest already knowing what will happen. With Lee's attention fully on Sasuke, he figured it would be safe enough to use to learn that he could.

Sasuke charged Lee, who was waiting patiently. Sasuke threw a punch that was easily blocked by Lee. Sasuke planted his hand on the floor to attempt a whirl wind kick on Lee when the bushy-browed boy countered.

"Konoha Reppu (Leaf Gale)!" shouted Lee as he did a sweep. Sasuke pushed up with his arm flipping away from his opponent.

Sakura looked amazed, while Naruto looked completely unsurprised, as Sasuke and Lee were now staring at each other.

'He's strong...' thought Sakura as she watched the boy nearly beat Sasuke-kun in the exchange. While he did not win he definitely came out with the upper hand.

"I'll say this, there is no way you can defeat me," said Lee with all seriousness in his expression, "Because, right now, I am the strongest among the Konoha Genin."

Naruto and Sasuke narrowed their eyes, and then Sasuke grunted as he smirked. "Let's see just how strong you are." Sasuke got ready to go in for another exchange.

"Sasuke-kun, we don't have time. We have to be at the reception desk in less than thirty minutes..." said Sakura worriedly.

"Don't worry," he said with a serious look on his face, "I'll be done in five minutes." He then charged at Lee a second time. As he went to punch the green clad genin, he disappeared. 'What?!' Naruto followed Lee's movements perfectly.

"Konoha Daisenpu!" shouted Lee as he kicked at Sasuke's head. Sasuke narrowly ducked before a second kick came straight at him.

'I can't dodge!' Sasuke frantically thought. 'I'll have to block! What?!'

Lee's follow-up kick broke through Sasuke's guard.

"Sasuke-kun!" shouted Sakura as Sasuke was sent flying and landed straight on his back.

'He blocked that attack...' she thought as she watched Sasuke struggle to stand.

"What the hell is going on..." Sasuke said as he picked himself off the ground. 'He went right through my guard... Was that a ninjutsu or a genjutsu...' He thought."Fine, it's time for me to get serious!" said Sasuke, both eyes blazing with his two tomoe Sharingan.

"The Sharingan!" said Sakura amazed. All the training on the way back from Wave was paying off as Sasuke could now call up the Sharingan at will, almost on instinct. 'Sasuke-kun is incredible!'

"Sasuke-kun can't lose to this guy!" said Sakura excitedly. Naruto smiled knowing the inevitable ending.

'Sasuke going to get his ass kick. I can't wait to rub it in.' Naruto thought.

Before Sasuke could charge a third time Lee kicked him in the chin sending Sasuke flying up into the air.

"B-but the Sharingan..." stuttered Sakura.

Naruto smiled wider as they watched Sasuke's airborne ascent. 'The Sharingan can't read it...' thought Sasuke, 'That means... His moves...'

"My moves are neither ninjutsu nor are they genjutsu," said Lee as he prepared the next sequence of his attack. Sasuke managed to land on is feet but Lee was already on the attack, now charging Sasuke. Sasuke could now only hopelessly dodge Lee's attacks, but no matter what he did, Lee was still connecting with several solid shots. Sasuke backed away after taking an extra strong elbow attack from Lee. "My techniques are simple taijutsu, Sasuke-kun."

Lee disappeared only to reappear behind Sasuke.

"You may not believe it, because it's so simple," said Lee, who then jumped to dodge an attack from Sasuke.

"Kuso!" Sasuke said, gritting his teeth.

"It's said that the Sharingan can read all types of ninjutsu, genjutsu and taijutsu," lectured Lee, "Because ninjutsu and genjutsu require you to summon chakra and hand seals to preform, you can easily defend against them. But... taijutsu is different."

"What do you mean?" asked Sasuke.

"Even if you can read my movements with your Sharingan, your body still lacks the speed to react to my taijutsu. It doesn't matter if you can see it, if your body can't keep up, it's useless!" explained Lee, "I believe there are two types of people amongst the strong. The hardworking types and the genius types. Your Uchiha blood is a genius type because of your Sharingan, while I am simply a hardworking type who has mastered only taijutsu."

Sasuke's frustration came to a boil as he angrily charged Lee. Lee was still lecturing while dodging Sasuke's attacks. "It could be said that my ultimate taijutsu is the worst possible match-up for your Sharingan." With that, Lee knocked Sasuke into the air again with a solid kick to the chin and then jumped after him. "Kage Buyo!"

Lee was now soaring parallel to Sasuke's back. "I shall now prove it with this technique that hard work surpasses genius skills." Lee's bandages began to unravel and ensnare Sasuke. "I win!"

Before Lee could complete his move, a pinwheel cut through the air pinning his bandages to the wall. Naruto cursed, he had been so intently watching the match- or rather Sasuke getting his ass handed to him- that he didn't sense anyone approaching.

"That's enough Lee!" shouted a red and yellow turtle with a VERY angry expression on his face.

Lee immediately landed while Sasuke continued towards the floor, his neck about to break his fall. "Sasuke-kun!" shouted Sakura as she moved to catch Sasuke. "Are you alright Sasuke-kun?" she asked with genuine concern.

"Lee, that technique is forbidden!" scolded the turtle.

'A talking turtle... I've seen weirder things' thought Naruto shrugging.

"I... I'm sorry! I hadn't planned on..." Lee tried to apologize but was cut off.

"Fool, do you think you can really get off on some silly excuse?" said the turtle disapprovingly. "You know well that a shinobi should NOT reveal his special techniques!" said the turtle. "Now are you prepared for your punishment?"

"Yes..." said a downtrodden Lee.

Naruto watched their interaction and tilted his head. 'Is it possible…no it not…is it?' He turned to Sakura. "Sakura-chan... Can turtles be senseis?" asked Naruto in a whisper.

Sakura looked at him as if he'd started sprouting tails.

"How the heck should I know if turtles can be senseis!" she hissed at him.

"Alright," said the turtle, "Here comes Gai-sensei."

There was a poof of smoke above the turtle and Team 7 and Rock Lee were now looking at a bigger version of Lee. The man was about two heads taller, but he had the same bowl haircut and bushy eyebrows.

"Ah, I can see the Flames of Youth burning brightly in each of you!"

"That guy is even lamer than the kid," said Sasuke with a bewildered look on his face. Had he turned to look at them, he'd have noticed Sakura and Naruto's expressions were the same.

"Super thick eyebrows... Super bowl cut..." was all Sakura could manage to get out.

"Those have got to be the biggest eyebrows I've ever seen!" said Naruto, "I think they might be alive..."

Lee turned around, rage and fury written all over his face. "Hey, stop insulting Gai-sensei!" he shouted at Team 7.

"With all these freaks showing up all over the place, how else are we supposed to react," shouted Sakura.

"What did you...?" he asked shaking a fist.

"Lee, stop!" said Gai with a small smile on his face.

"Yes, Gai-sensei!" said Lee.

Gai's expression turned serious as he shouted at Lee. "You fool!" He then punched Lee in the jaw, sending his mini-clone soaring through the air. "Lee, you... you are..."

"Sensei!" said Lee as he stood up, tears streaming down his face.

"Lee!" he shouted with tears streaming down his face.

"Gai-sensei... I... I..."

"That's enough Lee, you don't have to say any more," as a sandy beach with a sunset appeared around them.

'Is that a genjutsu?' Naruto asked.

"Sensei!" Lee shouted as he hugged Gai.

"Lee!"

"Wha-," Sakura blurted out.

"Eww..." Naruto let out turning away.

"I... I... Lost... to... This guy..." Sasuke stuttered.

"Yes! This is what youth is all about!" said Gai

"Sensei!"

"It's alright Lee... Youth and mistakes go together, forget about it." consoled Gai.

"You... you are too kind Gai-sensei!" sniffled Lee.

"Now, towards the sunset, I want 100 laps around the training grounds!" said Gai pointing towards the mysterious appearing sunset.

Lee straightened up, "Yes Gai-sensei!"

"Let's go!"

"Yes!"

"What about Chuunin exam?" asked Sakura, "There isn't enough time!"

"What? Oh yeah..." said Gai with a sheepish expression on his face. "Lee, Your punishment for starting a fight and attempting to use a forbidden technique will take place after the Chuunin Exams."

"Yes!" said Lee saluting Gai.

"The call of youth! 500 laps!" shouted Gai, striking a pose, "So tell me, how is Kakashi-sensei doing?"

"Huh?" asked Naruto.

"He is my eternal rival!" said Gai.

"Yeah right!" said Sakura disbelievingly. Sasuke didn't look like he believed Gai either, while Naruto was a bit undecided. At first glance Gai looked like a moron, but after watching Lee pick apart Sasuke, he knew looks could be deceiving.

"If Gai-sensei says..." shouted Lee back, but he was stopped by Gai.

"Don't worry about it Lee, actions speak louder than words," Gai told him.

Naruto and Sasuke's eyes widened as Gai simply disappeared. "If I'm not mistaken, my record is 50 wins and 49 losses, in my favor." Team 7 each spun around, surprised looks on their faces. "That means I am better than Kakashi!"

'Not another one…Fuck' thought Naruto.

'He's... faster than Kakashi...' observed Sasuke.

"You see!? Isn't Gai-sensei incredible!" shouted Lee.

"Sorry about Lee, I swear by this face, it will not happen again," Gai promised as he smiled at Team 7, his teeth sparkling in the light. "You guys and Lee should be in the class room soon. He threw a kunai and knocked the pinwheel off the wall releasing Lee's bandages. Naruto watched as Lee re-wrapped his hand. He doubted the others noticed it, but he saw the scars and the callous' on Lee's knuckles.

'He must have worked himself to the bone.' Naruto thought. 'He's a true genius of hard work...' thought Naruto.

"Good luck Lee, Later!" Gai shouted as he disappeared in a puff of smoke.

"Sasuke-kun, I shall say only one last thing," Rock Lee said as he went to leave, "The truth is, while I have come here to test my abilities, I lied before... I am not the best genin Konoha has to offer. Though the strongest genin is most likely to be on my team. I have entered this exam to defeat him, but you are also one of my targets. Be prepared during the exam!" Lee said as he jumped to the upper level and ran off to rejoin his team mates.

Sasuke looked frustrated, so Sakura decided to try and comfort him. "Sasuke-kun..."

"Ha, ha, ha, ha. You've got your ass handed to you." Naruto said laughing.

"Naruto!" shouted Sakura.

"Shut up..." Sasuke growled through clenched teeth. "Next time, I'll beat him..."

"Sure... just call me when you fight him...I'll make sure to bring a video camera" said Naruto.

"Naruto, you..." Sakura began to berate the blonde haired demon container.

Ignoring Sakura, Naruto looked at Sasuke.

"Did you see it? His hand?" Judging by their looks of astonishment and confusion neither of them had. "Bushy-brows must have been training hard... Day in and out. More so than any of us. That's all I meant." He said seriously. Sakura looked at Sasuke her eyes filled with concern as his fist tightened.

"The Chuunin Exams... They are becoming more interesting..." Sasuke said with a determined smile. Sakura smiled as well and Naruto was now wearing a small smirk.

"Shall we get going?" Sakura asked. They all nodded before turning to the hall. The three team mates made their way down the halls towards the room of their first test.


	2. The first test

Naruto of the moon blade

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon/Huge Summoning/Inner Sakura talking"**

"_Flash Back"_

Chapter 2

Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke walked down the hall to room 301 but stopped when the saw their sensei. A man of about 6 ft 1 inch tall who has silver hair with a black face mask. His forehead protector was slighted to cover his left eye. He wore a jounin vest with blue pants and shirt with a red swirl on it. "Ah, I'm glad to see you made it as well, Sakura," he said lazily, reading his little orange book, Icha-Icha Paradise Vol. III. "You can now officially register for the Chuunin Exams." Kakashi informed them. At the looks of confusion, he continued, "This exam can only be taken by teams of three."

"But you said it was up to us whether or not we wanted to take it or not," said Sakura.

"Yes, I did," Kakashi answered.

"You... You lied?" asked Sakura uncertainly.

"Not exactly," Sasuke answered her, "It was your choice whether you wanted to take the exam or not. But he didn't want either me or Naruto forcing you to take the exam."

"Exactly," said Kakashi. Naruto nodded while looking at Sakura. "Even if you two wouldn't force her into taking the exam, she would have felt as if she was holding you back, and thus would have felt obligated to take the exam to keep from doing so." All of them accepted this explanation.

"So... If only Naruto and Sasuke came... Then what would have happened?" asked Sakura.

"I would have prohibited them from taking the exams and not allowed them entry into the next room," said Kakashi. "But, each of you came here of your own free will. Well done, I am proud to have each of you on my team." He smiled, though you could only tell do to the curve of his only visible eye, and moved to allow them entry.

"Alright!" Naruto said, "Let's go!"

Kakashi watched them as they entered the room as the door shut.

"Wow." Sakura said. They looked at the room full of genin who was glaring at them. "Th-There's so many... Is everyone here taking the exam..." Her nervousness only intensified as she glanced around the room, 'C-Could... They all be strong...' She was broken out of her thoughts by her worse nightmare.

"Sasuke-kun! You're late," shouted someone as they glomped onto Sasuke's back. "I've been eagerly waiting for you since I heard that I would be able to see you for the first time in such a very long time!" It was none other than Yamanaka Ino, Sasuke's other number one fan girl and Sakura's own eternal rival. Sakura went from nervous to enraged faster than Naruto could eat a weeks supply of Ichiraku's Ramen for free.

"Get away from Sasuke-kun, Ino-pig!" yelled Sakura. Ino shifted to Sasuke's arm smirking.

"Oh, it's you Sakura, still as wide foreheaded and ugly as usual, I see," the bubbly blonde girl said to her rival.

"What did you say!" demanded Sakura. Ino's response was to simply stick her tongue out at Sakura.

"You guys are taking this troublesome exam too?" asked another voice, this time a boy with a pineapple shaped haircut who was standing next to a 'big-boned' boy who was eating chips. They are Nara Shikamaru and Akimichi Chouji respectively.

"It looks like we're all here!" said a fourth person. Inuzuka Kiba. He had a dog sitting on the top of his head by the name of Akamaru. Next to him are his two teammates.

Naruto ignored all of their chatter as he looked at the crowd with his hand shaking. "Well what do you know Otouto, you made it." A familiar voice said. Naruto snapped out of his trace and turned to his side. He saw his older brother Uzumaki Shisou next to his friend Aburame Shino. Shisou was about 4 ft 11 inches tall. He wore a dark blue shirt and black pants. He has two kunai pouches, one on each of his thighs. His hitai-ate is around his forehead. He has long spiky blonde hair with black highlights tied in a ponytail. On his back was a nodachi that was 73 inches over all in a red scabbard. It is tied to his back by black rope. The hilt is wrapped in black nylon cord and has a gold guard.

"Hey Aniki. You should have known I would make it" Naruto said before turning back to watching the crowd. Shisou saw his brother's shaking arm and smirked. He turned to watch the ninja around the room with excitement in his eyes.

"This will be very interesting. Don't you think Naruto?" Shisou asked.

Another part of the room

"Hey Saeko. Look at the door that blonde kid is scared." A genin said amused. He is about 5 ft tall with black hair and green eyes. He is wearing a grey shirt and tan shorts. He has a kunai pouch on his right thigh and a crescent moon symbol hitai-ate on his head.

The girl he is speaking to is about 4 ft 10 inches with a slender build and with a b-cup bust size. She has long violet colored hair. Her almond shape eyes are narrowed slits with an eye color of purple. She has her hitai-ate around her forehead and is wearing a white kimono top with long sleeves and a red skirt styled hamaka that cinches her waist along with an obi around her waist. On her left side is an O-katana that is 55 inches overall. It's in a black scabbard and the hilt is wrapped in white leather wrapping. She stared at Naruto watching as his mouth twitched. "Saeko?" He asked with his right eyebrow raised.

"You're wrong Shido." Saeko said calmly.

"Huh?" He asked.

"He's not afraid. He's…excited" She said calm as something flashed in her eyes. Shido looked back at Naruto and Shisou with a scowl on his face.

'That look in her eyes. I hate it when she looks at other guys like that. She will be mine.' Shido thought.

"He looks quite interesting. What did that genin call him?" Another male asked. He is about 4 ft 11 inches and is wearing a green shirt, black shorts, and his hitai-ate on his forehead. He has a kunai pouch on both thighs. He has blue hair and black eyes.

"I think he said Naruto." Shido said reading Shisou lips.

"And his brother." He asked.

"Shisou." Shido said reading Naruto's. "Why are you so interested? Katsu?" He asked.

"I'm just wondering who I would rather fight?" He asked himself. After a few seconds of thinking and sizing them up he found his target. "Shisou. I'm sure he's stronger." He said with an eerie smile. "What about you Saeko?" He asked looking at her.

"Naruto." She said with an emotionless voice.

"It seems you have found a specific target this time. Very well let's see how far they get first." Katsu said. They nodded watching the two brothers.

Back with Naruto

Shisou felt a few looks come his way and looked to his right. He saw the three moon genin and smirked. His eyes came to the girls beautiful face and turned following her line of sight. He turned until it came upon Naruto who was trying to hold his smirk in as he looked upon the genin. 'Seems like he has a cute girl after him. Man what I would do to be in his shoes.' He thought.

He turned to the side catching the team's conversation. "You guys are here as well... Troublesome..." complained Nara Shikamaru.

"So all nine rookies are going to take the exam this year!" observed Kiba. "How far do you think we'll go, Sasuke?"

"You seem awfully confident Kiba," said Sasuke.

"We've trained like hell, we won't lose to you!" stated Kiba. Naruto heard this and turned to him.

"Of course you won't because you and everyone in this room is going to lose to me." Naruto said with a confident tone.

"Really? A dead last like you? Yeah right." Kiba replied.

Before Naruto could speak a silver haired Konoha genin walked up to them.

"Hey you all should quiet down." He said. "You all are the nine recently graduated Rookies right? You all need to get it into your heads that this isn't just a simple field trip."

"And exactly who are you to be telling us anything!" demanded Ino.

"I am Yakushi Kabuto," he introduced himself.

"Look around... The ones behind you are from Ame and they have short tempers. Everyone here is very tense because it's right before the exam. I'm just warning you so you don't get picked on. Though I suppose it can't be helped with you all being Rookies and all. It makes me remember the old me..."

"Kabuto-san, right...?" asked Sakura.

"Yes..." answered Kabuto.

"Is this your second time then...?" asked Sakura.

"No," replied Kabuto, "It's my seventh. The exam takes place only twice a year and this is my fourth year."

"So that means you know quite a lot about the exam, right?" she asked.

"Yes," he answered.

"So that means you're practically an expert," said Naruto.

"But, he hasn't passed it," Shikamaru added, to which Kabuto looked sheepish.

"Very true," Kabuto said.

"Ahh... Is the Chuunin exam THAT difficult... This is getting even more troublesome..." Shikamaru complained.

"Then perhaps you'd like some information then?" asked Kabuto as he pulled out a small deck of cards, "These are ninja info cards."

"Ninja info cards?" asked Sakura.

"Put simply, I can burn information onto these cards using only my Chakra." as he said this he kneeled and placed the deck on the floor. "With them, I've managed to gather data on this exam for the last four years. I have around 200 cards." He flipped over the top card and they noticed it looked blank. "It may look blank, but there is plenty of information stored in these cards," He then started twirling the card underneath his fingers.

"What are you doing?" asked Ino.

"I've made them so the information can't be viewed without my Chakra, like this..." he explained as he made a one handed seal and there was a small puff of smoke where the card had been. When it cleared the rookies noticed that the card was no longer blank. Kabuto then gave a brief explanation of the purpose and politics of the Chuunin Exams.

"So, are there any cards with any detailed personal information on them?" asked Sasuke intrigued.

"Well, yes..." said Kabuto. "Is there anyone that interests you?"

"Do you have any info on Rock Lee, Sabaku no Gaara, Uzumaki Shisou" said Sasuke. Shisou looked at him with a smirk as he glared at him. Naruto shook his head but listen.

"While you're at it tell me about her?" He said motioning his head to the side. Kabuto looked over and saw the violet haired girl.

.

"The violet haired girl?" He asked. Shisou nodded as Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Now then, just remember that the information on the participants of the exam may not be perfect. Never-the-less, I've burned and saved them all. Though it's unfortunate you know their names, it kind of takes the fun out of it."

"Here we go..." After sifting through the cards he pulled out four of them. "Let's see... First up, Rock Lee." He held up the card which had the picture of the kid dressed in the green leotard, bowl hair cut and bushy eyebrows. "He's only a year older than you all, but this is also his first exam. 20 D-ranked missions, 11 C-ranked. His team mates are Hyuuga Neji and Ten-Ten and their sensei is Maito Gai. His Taijutsu has increased very dramatically over the past year, though his other skills are abysmal."

Kabuto then took a second card placing it over Rock Lee's and channeled his Chakra into it. This time it showed a red haired boy with black rings around his eyes and a gourd strapped to his back. "Next up, Sabaku no Gaara. Hmm... Mission experience, 8 C-ranked missions and wow... A B-ranked mission as a Genin! He's a foreign nin and this is also his first exam so that's all the information I have on him."

'That's not very helpful' thought Naruto. 'I wonder how truly strong he is'

"Oh wait... It seems he's come back from every mission completely unscathed..." Kabuto informed him.

"He did a B-ranked mission and came back unharmed?" asked Shikamaru astonished.

Shisou smirked with an excited look on his face while Naruto grinned. "Well let's see about Shisou," said Kabuto. The remaining two cards were soon showing the pictures of a stoic looking Uzumaki Shisou. "Impressive for a genin," said Kabuto looking at Shisou's card.

"Uzumaki Shisou. Known family Uzumaki Naruto and…..Hn" Kabuto said pausing at the end. Naruto and Shisou narrowed there eyes slightly but didn't say anything "Team mates are Inuzuka Kiba and Aburame Shino. His sensei is Yuuhi Kurenai... he and his team did 10 D-rank missions and well now... 2 B-Rank mission." Kiba puffed up in pride, Shisou only smirked and Shino made not outward reaction to hearing it. "Your Chakra levels are way above the average genins and even most Chuunins. He has above average taijutsu and genjutsu skills. Only academy level ninjutsu recorded. You're also one of the most skilled Rookies ever to come out of the academy. Very impressive" He finished.

"What can I say?" Shisou said smirking.

"Okay and the girl. Her name is Busujima Saeko she's the same age as you all are. She is from the village hidden by the moon. Her teammates are Tamotsu Katsu and Osamu Shido. Don't know much about her skills. She and her team has complete 2 c-rank missions, 3 B-ranked, and 4 A-ranked. And she only became a genin a few months ago Damn." Kabuto said.

'Damn is right' Shisou thought. 'But this makes this much more interesting.' He thought with a smirk. Naruto simple turned and looked at her.

'I wonder.' Naruto thought with a light blush and a smirk on his face.

"Anyways..." Kabuto continued on as the others began to get over their shock. "Konoha, Suna, Ame, Kusa, Taki and Oto, Tsuki, these are the villages who have sent many talented ninjas here for this exam. Oto is a village of a small country that has just recently come to power, so there isn't much information on them."

"A new country? They probably are weak." Naruto said interrupting Kabuto.

"You shouldn't say that. You never know, there are a lot of powerful ninjas from a lot of different places. The oto nin could be some of them"

At the hearing of powerful ninja Naruto seemed to shake. Shisou looked at Naruto and held his smirk. Everyone else noticed his shaking and didn't say anything.

'Chicken' Kiba thought with a smirk.

'Even Naruto nervous seeing these numbers…I can understand we're all genins but we are the rookies among them.' Sakura thought. 'This isn't like Naruto. I'll cheer him up.'

"Hey Naruto don't get so…" She started before hearing his chuckling.

"Ha, ha, ha, ha….Hey listen up everyone! I'm is Uzumaki Naruto! Remember it! Because that's the name of the person who's going to be kick all your asses!" Naruto yelled out catching everyone's attention.

"Hey what up with him?" Ino yelled at Sakura.

'He's too stupid to get nervous' Sakura thought.

"Oh that felt sooooo good." Naruto said as with his toothy smirk. Everyone in the room glared at him. Some with scowls, some with frowns, some with smirks, and few with smiles.

"So you think you could beat me Otouto?" Shisou asked with a smirk.

"I don't think, I know." Naruto replied as he turned to him with his own smirk.

"You got a lot of confidence for someone who fights like a five year old." Shisou said.

"Five year old? Shut up you imbecile. I'll have you know that my style is the best there ever is." Naruto replied.

"Imbecile? I'm surprised that you know what the word means." Shisou said.

"Are you trying to call me an idiot?" Naruto asked glaring.

"Of course not. That would be an insult to all the idiots out there." Shisou said smirking.

"Fuck you. You no talent asshole" Naruto roared angrily.

"I have more talent in my right pinky than you do in your whole body. You retarded samurai wanna be." Shisou said calmly as he glared.

"The only talent you have is sleeping when someone drops a log on your head." Naruto said smirking.

Team Gaara

"Those are the two from yesterday." Kankuro said.

"That idiot" Temari said. 'Though a cute one. His brother is cuter.'

Gaara stayed silent as he looked upon them.

Team Gai

"He's got spunk. I'll give him that." Ten-Ten whispered.

"He's burning with passion," said Lee to his team mates.

"Uzumaki" Neji growled.

Another part of the room

"Weak huh?" asked the spiky hair sound ninja. "He thinks we're weak."

"Let's play with them. Teach them who the real weak ones" said the raven haired female of the team.

"What a great idea. Lets show them how vicious sound ninjas can be" The one-eyed genin said who had bandages wrapped around his face.

Moon team

"He, he, he." Saeko giggled. Shido stared at her in shock.

'She never giggles.' He thought. He turned to Naruto and Shisou with a glare. 'Damn them.' He thought clutching his fist tightly.

"You know what? I think I'll add him to my target list." Katsu said. "Though, I still don't think he will be much of a match." He added. The team looked to the side catching movement.

'Let's see what they got.' The team thought simultaneously.

With the rookies

"What an idiot. He just turned everyone into his enemy." Shikamaru said as he watched the brothers argue.

"You couldn't hit a bull's eye with a kunai if he was right in front of your face." Naruto yelled.

"You couldn't hit a fat ninja that is tied to a tree with the blunt side of your blade." Shisou replied equally as loud. Kabuto looked up as he saw the sound ninja's move. Both Naruto and Shisou eyes shifted towards the movement before the looked at each other as they growled at each other. The one eyed shinobi pulled back his sleeve revealing a gauntlet on his arm as he approached them. Kabuto kept his eyes on them as the spiky haired genin jumped in the air. He threw two kunai at the brother's who simply took one short step to their right. The kunai hit the floor as the one-eyed genin appeared in front of them with a one handed seal. He swung his arm at Naruto quicker then most people could see. Before his fist could hit them he suddenly flew towards the opposite wall cracking it. Everyone stared at the two outstretched arms.

"Can't you see we're doing something?" The two brothers said glaring at him. The sound nin and everyone else stood shocked as the brothers let their arms drop.

'I didn't see them move.' The rookie genin thought. If they were mind readers they would have found that those thoughts ran through most of the genin minds. Sasuke clutched his fist tightly.

'Both of them.' Sasuke thought seething. Gaara looked at them with insane eyes.

'Mother wants their blood.' He thought.

"They hit him at the same time. I get the feeling Shisou held his speed back to match his." Katsu said.

"Stop over thinking things. I doubt that they are as strong as you two. The Uchiha would probably give you more of a match." Shido said holding back his anger from his voice.

"I doubt that. The Uchiha feels weak to me. Shisou is a different story thought. He has an aura of strength surrounding him."

"It's the same with Naruto too." Saeko said.

"You probably think that because he looks like he could use that katana" Katsu said smirking.

"Hn" She replied as the oto nin got up.

"I was right. Oto nin are weak." Naruto said as he stared at them.

"I'll have to agree with you there." Shisou said.

"Don't get cocky you only got lucky because you attacked us by surprise," said the spiky haired nin.

"Isn't that exactly what you were trying to do?" asked Sasuke coldly, "Try attacking my teammate again and you'll find that you'll have more than just those two idiots to do deal with."

"Idiots? Did emo boy just call us idiots?" Shisou said.

"I think the teme with a half of brain did." Naruto replied. Sasuke looked at them with a glare.

"Shut up you blonde garbage disposal." Sasuke said.

"Oh! You b…" Naruto stopped as a large puff of smoke appeared in the room.

"Quite down, Punks!" a loud, commanding voice boomed out. Everyone turned towards the voice, their attention no longer on the Konoha Rookies, the Oto-nin, and Kabuto. "Sorry to keep you all waiting." said a man wearing a black bandana with a Konoha hitai-ate and scars all over his face. He wore the standard grey uniform the other test proctors were wearing, except he was also wearing a black trench coat.

"I am the examiner of the first test of the Chuunin Selection Exams. My name is Morino Ibiki." said the proctor, "Now, don't think any of you can just do anything before the exam! Do you want us to fail you before the exam even begin?"

"I apologize, I was merely excited with this being my first exam," said the one-eyed Oto-nin.

"Well, I suppose now is as good of a time to say this," said Ibiki, "You are not allowed to fight each other during the exams unless given express permission by the examiners. Even if permission is given, you will not be allowed to kill each other. Pigs who go against me will fail immediately, is that understood?"

He did a quick scan of the room to let what he had just said sink in. Then he continued on with the introduction, "Now begins the first portion of the Chuunin Selection Examinations. Turn in your applications. Then take one of these numbered tabs, that will be your seating placement. After that, we will pass out the examination papers for the written exam."

"A… paper…test?" Naruto said.

"Well Naruto. You're screwed" He said as one of the proctors held up a stack of papers and smirked.

'Fuck' Naruto thought.

After they got their seats and were sitting Naruto the test were handed out. 'Fuck I'm not near anyone I know. I'm so screwed.' He thought with his hands on his head.

'This is the worst possible test for Naruto.' Sakura thought.

"Heh" Naruto heard. He turned to his right to see Saeko.

'It's that Saeko girl.' Naruto thought.

"I guessing you're not book smart." She said with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"Hn, you could say that." Naruto grunted.

"All you could hope for is to try your best." She said.

"I guess so. Oh yeah we weren't properly introduced. I'm Uzumaki Naruto." He said with his hand out.

"Busujima Saeko." She said shaking his hand. 'Nice grip, definitely a swordsmen.' She thought. She looked like she was going to say something else but was interrupted.

"Don't turn your test around. Listen closely to what I'm about to say." Ibiki started. "There are many important to this first test. I'll right it on the board while I explain. But questions will not be allowed, so listen careful." He finished as he put the chalk to the board.

'Rules?...No questions allowed?' Sakura thought.

"The first rule is you all start off with 10 points. The test is made up of ten questions and each is worth a point…but the test uses a subtraction system." He said writing on the board. "Basically you, if you answer all ten questions correctly you keep your ten points. But say if you miss three questions…you lose three points and have seven." He said.

'Yeah, yeah get on with it.' Naruto thought.

"The second rule is that this is a team test. Whether you pass or not will be determined by the combined score of your teammates." He said. "So each team will compete to see how many points they can hold on to from the initial team total of 30." He said as two heads hit the table. Saeko looked at Naruto blankly and turned back to the front. Sakura raised her head from the table with her hand up.

"Wait a second!!" She yelled. "I don't understand this initial point system either, but why is a team test?" She asked.

"Shut up, you don't have the right to question me. There is reason for this, be quiet and listen." He said. He waited a few seconds before continuing. "Okay, And now the most important rule." He said. "The third rule is that during the test if anyone is caught cheating by the testing officers will have two points subtracted for every offense."

"Oh" Sakura said.

"So there will be people who will loss all their points and be told to leave the room." He said.

'So there's a way to lose points without the test even being graded...' Sakura thought to herself.

"Those who attempt to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves," he said, "You are all trying to become Chuunins, if you are a ninja, you must act like a first-rate one."

'Alright... Calm down...' thought Sakura to herself. 'Putting Naruto aside, both Sasuke-kun and I should do alright... We'll just have to make up for it if Naruto gets a zero...'

"Also, if anyone on the team gets a zero either through cheat or not answering question or getting them wrong... Your entire team fails," Ibiki said, breaking Sakura out of her thoughts.

Sasuke's eyes widened. 'What...!?'

"What did you say!?" shouted Sakura.

'Oh fuck' Naruto thought sensing two killing intents on him.

'Naruto is completely screwed. Well maybe. He has been known for doing the impossible. And for him, passing this test is impossible if he doesn't cheat that is.' Shisou thought with a smile on his face.

"The final question will be given 45 minutes after the exam begins," said Ibiki. "You have one hour for the exam! Begin!" He said.

Around the room the tabbing of pencils on paper could be heard as the genin filled out the nine questions. 'This could be very bad. Naruto… please just don't get zero points.' Sakura thought.

'Okay. This is just a test. A piece of paper with words on it. It's shouldn't be that hard. I'll just look over each question and find one that I can answer.' Naruto thought slightly freaking out.

'This is bad. Naruto's already freaking out.' Sasuke thought as he started at Naruto.

'First question is a cryptogram.' Naruto thought looking over it. 'Fuck, next' He thought.

'Okay Naruto will do fine I must focus on my paper. Hm, number 2 "Line b, seen in the picture, is the greatest possible distance shinobi….can throw his shuriken from a tree of seven meters. For enemies who appear within the circumference of the shuriken's range, explain the attack options using this distance. Show your work.' Sakura thought. 'This is a very complicated problem. There's no way Naruto solving this problem. I doubt most people in this room can solve this.'

Naruto read of each problem sinking deeper and deeper into despair.

'Hehe I see…I can't solve anyone of these questions.' Sasuke thought. 'plus with this tenth question?' He thought.

'What am I going to do, what am I going to.' Naruto thought franticly as he looked at the paper.

Saeko looked to her side at Naruto. 'He freaking out.' She thought to herself as she looked at the questions. 'But I can't blame him. It would take somebody who has a lot of book smarts just to answer these questions without cheating.' She thought as she finished number one.

Fifteen minutes later

Naruto's knuckles were white from the grip he had on his pencil. He was gritting his teeth as he re-read the eighth and ninth questions over and over again, hoping the answers would pop out at him. 'Stay calm... Deep breathes... You can do this...' He kept repeating the same mantra over and over in his head. 'Just think…read the question and figure it out'

Sasuke was looking around the room at the proctors. 'They seem to be rather cautious... It's almost as if they're assuming we're going to cheat...' He watched as a proctor marked down something on his clipboard. 'Someone was just caught... Getting caught was a two point deduction... But why only two points? Normally you'd be thrown out for just being suspected of cheating...' That's when Sasuke remembered Morino Ibiki's words at the beginning of the exam.

_FLASHBACK _

"_Those who attempt to cheat without thinking carefully will only hurt themselves," Ibiki said, "You are all trying to become Chuunins, if you are a ninja, you must act like a first-rate one."_

_END FLASHBACK_

'I see...' thought Sasuke as he reached an epiphany, 'This isn't a test of knowledge... The true purpose is to evaluate each person's information gathering skills using different methods of camouflage and concealment. See underneath the underneath as Kakashi-sensei would always say... So he only wants us to not cheat without thinking things very carefully... To be like a 'first-rate' ninja and not get caught. When put that way, the unusual point deduction system and the lenient two point deduction rule make perfect sense... So exactly what is being tested? Not being caught be the person you're cheating off of, or the examiners while still getting the correct answers... Naruto you can do this... Just think underneath the underneath...! It will cost you if you don't!'

'Hm, this test is harder than I thought it would be. I could only answer one question. Oh well guess I have to cheat. Even though I haven't mastered it, it should work fine for this. But who should I cheat off of?' Shisou thought. He looked around the room and saw someone who looked like they knew what they were doing. 'Found ya' He thought.

Sasuke was already making his plan of attack. 'If this is a test of one's information gathering skills there should be at least one person in here that already knows all of the answers...' he thought as he scanned the room for his potential target.

He noticed Sabaku no Gaara was doing something odd with his sand, while Kiba seemed to be communicating with his puppy. 'Seems like that loser actually can understand his mutt...' thought Sasuke. He looked around the room seeing a lot of the examinees cheating like Shino with his bugs, Neji with his byakugan and smirked. 'I guess they figured it out too.' He looked forward at a guy who was writing. 'Okay focus. Look at his movements and copy them.' Sasuke thought. 'Sharingan' He thought as his eyes turned red with two tomoe marks in each eye.

'Okay fuck it. I'm cheating, but how?' Naruto thought. He discreetly looked around the room and caught the sight of what his brother was doing. He smirked knowing what he was doing and looked around the room again. He saw that a window was opening and smirked. 'There. Now who?' Naruto thought. He saw a guy who was writing fast near the open window and smirked. 'Found you.' Naruto thought. Just before he could do anything thing a kunai sped pass his face.

"Whoa" The genin said as the kunai hit his paper.

'Oh shit I thought that was for me for a second.' Naruto thought.

"What was that for?" The genin yelled.

"You mess up five times. You fail." A spiky hair proctor who looked similar to the person in the hallway early said.

"No…No way" He said.

"The two of his teammates get out of here. Right now" The proctor said.

'Whoa.' Naruto thought still freaked.

"Hurry up and leave." The proctor said as he opened the door the three genin.

'Okay let's try this again.' Naruto thought. He started to take in deep breaths as he released chakra in the air. Saeko looked over to his feeling his chakra.

'I wonder what he is up to.' She thought watching him closely. After Naruto finished releasing the required amount he looked over to his target. He lifted his left hand with his elbow on the table. He gathered chakra into his left hand and started to wave it discreetly towards the opened window. After he sensed that the wind was near the window he waved his hand to the side causing a gust of wind to blow. Because of the sudden gust of wind the papers in that row all flew into the air.

"My paper!" Three genins shouted out. Naruto ignored them as he quickly looked at the middle paper. After ten seconds he let the papers fall to the ground. Naruto quickly started writing the answers he saw as the genin started to run for there papers. As Naruto wrote he felt eyes staring write at him. He started to sweat as he ignored it. After the fourth question was finished he let his curiosity get the best of him and looked up.

He saw Ibiki staring at him with an intense look. Naruto gulped thinking he had be caught. He went down to his paper and started on answer Five. Saeko looked at him calmly. 'So he knows wind manipulation.' She thought.

'Fuck, fuck, fuck' Naruto thought as he finished question five. He looked up again to see Ibiki still staring at him. He saw Ibiki smirk before he turned his head looking at other's around the room. Naruto sighed as he panted. 'That was so close.' Naruto thought. He started to quietly chuckle. "Oh shit" Naruto said to low for anyone except Saeko to hear.

'I thought he was caught.' She thought.

Naruto frozen when he heard another proctor speak. "Number 23 fail. Numbers 43 and 17... Fail!" Naruto then began to look around the room as others stood up and left. Two proctors dragged out one Genin who was refusing to leave, while a Suna Genin stood up and furiously demanded if they had any proof he had cheated five times.

"Can you really expect us to believe you are capable of watching over this many people?!" He disappeared in a blur as a Konoha-nin elbowed him in the neck and forced him to a wall. He had bandages covering the upper part of his head and a hitai-ate over where his eyes would be.

"Listen up, we are the Chuunins that were chosen to watch over you punks during this part of the exam," he said tauntingly, "We are the Elites, so to say... So we don't miss even a single thing you do... My strength is more than enough proof." he said confidently as he released the Suna-nin, who immediately slumped to the floor, gasping for air. Naruto was paralyzed in fear.

'Holy shit. I thought for a second he called my number.' Naruto thought as he tried to relax. Naruto felt a huge amount of killing intent directed at him but ignored it.

'That bastard.' Shido thought glaring at Naruto. He saw the smile that Saeko directed at Naruto. 'She never smile or even giggled at the other guys or me. What makes him so special?' His pencil broke under the strain. He ignored it because he had finished the test five minutes ago. He smirked as he did hand seals under his desk. 'I guess I'm going to have to get rid of him' he thought. Before he could launch his jutsu he felt cold eyes on him and a massive amount of killing intent. He sat frozen in fear, unable to move, or breathe feeling that hopelessness that came when fighting someone you knew you have no chance of surviving. After a moment the killing intent lessened enough for him to move a little and breathe his eyes darted around looking for the source. He saw that the chuunin and the other genin didn't feel the killing intent. He turned in the direction of Naruto thinking he was the cause and started his hand seals again. His eye sudden was drawn towards Saeko who was looking at him from the corner of her eyes. He felt the killing intent increase again stopping him. 'I-i-it h-h-er' He thought looking into the cold fury that showed in her eyes. She stopped sending killing intent giving him a silent message, 'Don't mess with my targets'. He panted as he leaned back into the chair.

Shisou looked at the exchange with a calm expression on his face thought his eyes shown pure anger. He saw Saeko's eyes dart to him before she turned back to her paper. 'I wonder…did she do it to stop him from interfering with otouto or did she feel my killing intent?' He thought. He watched Shido in front of him who was panting and lightly shaking. 'From how's she's acting around Naruto I could guess either one. If I get the chance I'll ask her.' He thought turning over his paper.

At the other side of the room Katsu smirked seeing the whole exchange. 'The idiot. He should have already realized how she would react after what happened last time.' He thought. He turned to look at Shisou who was still staring at Shido. 'You are defiantly an interesting guy.'

Several rows back from Sakura, she was being watched by her long time rival, Yamanaka Ino. Ino smirked, 'It looks like Sakura is about finished... I can't help but acknowledge that the wideness of the forehead of hers and intelligence are incredible.' thought Ino, 'You should be thankful for being my target for this technique...' The blonde haired, purple clad kunoichi then did a few hand seals. 'Shintenshin no Jutsu (Mind Body Switch Technique)!' Her spirit seemed to fly out of her body and straight into Sakura's. Ino slumped onto her paper.

The only one who seemed to catch the movement was quite a few seats down from Sakura. 'Looks like Ino used that jutsu... How troublesome... Better finish this test or Ino will become even more troublesome than my kaa-san...'

'Just can't beat that technique of Ino's... Now I just have to wait for Shikamaru to do his thing...' Chouji, who also wasn't too far away, thought to himself

Sakura then confidently smirked, a look very reminiscent of Yamanaka Ino. 'Sakura, I've slipped myself into your mind for a while, now I just need to quickly get the answers. Figures she'd be able to answer all these questions...'

"Number 59 fail!" shouted one proctor.

"Numbers 33 and 9, Fail!" shouted another.

'That's the thirteenth team that's failed...' thought Kabuto as he continued answering the

questions on his test.

"41, Fail!" shouted a proctor. Ibiki just stood in the front of the room impassively as the babysitters began failing more and more Chuunin hopefuls. "Numbers 35 and 62, Fail!"

Ibiki couldn't help but be impress by the way the Suna-nin, Gaara, was handling himself. The kid looked as if he had an aneurism. He looked as if he'd break under the strain of the pressure at any moment. His eyes shifted back to Naruto. 'He is also interesting. I didn't know Kakashi taught his students element manipulation.' He thought. 'And to use it like that. He may have what it takes to become a chuunin after all.'

"Excuse me!" said a Suna Chuunin hopeful. He wore a black jumpsuit with cat ears and a good deal of face paint. "I need to go to the bathroom!"

A proctor stood and handcuffed Kankuro, "As the rules state, I'll have to accompany you to the bathroom."

"I suppose that makes sense," said Kankuro as he was led out of the room. Gaara merely grunted at his older brother's minor disruption.

'Alright 40 minutes have passed...' Naruto thought as he looked over his half filled paper.

'At least I don't get zero. But just to make sure I need to get the final question right.'

Morino Ibiki smirked at the remaining teams. "Looks like we've dropped all of the incompetent ones... I will now give you the final question..."

Naruto gripped tightly onto his pencil as he breathed in deeply. 'Alright. I can do this.' Naruto thought.

'Took long enough,' thought Sasuke.

Sakura looked smug, knowing that she could easily answer this as she did the others, 'Finally...'

Elsewhere, a blonde Suna-nin was wondering where her other brother was. 'Kankuro, you'd best hurry back... If he gives us the tenth question, you'll be unable to help us out...'

"Before I do, however, there's one thing I must tell you..." said Ibiki in a low voice, the tension mounting as he hit them with small amounts of killing intent. It was affecting most of them more than it should as they were completely focused on him. "There is a special added condition to the final question..."

The door in the back of the room opened and the Suna-nin who had gone to the bathroom and the proctor he had left with had returned, just barely in time.

"You're lucky," Ibiki said to Kankuro, "Was your doll playing beneficial..." Kankuro inwardly cringed, while Ibiki just smirked.

'H-he knows about Karasu?' he thought to himself.

"Well, sit down," Ibiki told the Suna-nin. As he passed by his blonde teammate and sister, he dropped a small object next to her test, which she immediately, but subtly, covered with her hand. "I shall now explain. This is a hopeless rule..." Ibiki began to explain. Many of the prospective Chuunin looked confused.

"Without my team it sure is boring" said one Hatake Kakashi in a lazy tone.

"I'm sure you'll be busy soon enough..." said Sarutobi Asuma, jonin instructor of Team 10, the Ino-Shika-Cho group. Much to the distaste of the third member of their little get together he was smoking a cigarette. He wore a simple Jonin outfit, much like Kakashi's, except without the mask.

"Oh, why do you say that?" asked Kakashi with a lazy drawl.

"The first examiner for this year's Chuunin Exam is Morino Ibiki," said Asuma with a small smile on his face.

Kakashi's eye widened momentarily with recognition of the name. 'So, it appears that the first exam will be a tad bit difficult this year...' He wondered how his students were doing at the moment. "So they had to pick that sadist, eh?"

"Sadist?" asked a beautiful woman with ruby colored eyes and a dress that looked like she was wrapped in bandages. She had a single red sleeve covering her right arm and both hands were wrapped in bandages. She was Yuuhi Kurenai, Jonin instructor of Team 8, the reconnaissance team. She had Shisou, Kiba and the Shino under her tutelage.

"Kurenai, you're still a rookie Jonin, so it's understandable you don't know..." said Asuma.

"Who is he?" asked Kurenai.

"A pro," Kakashi answered. "A pro..."

"A pro? A pro of what?" she asked, already dreading the answer. Asuma sucked on the cancer stick, and let out a puff of smoke.

"He's a Tokubetsu Jonin, whose specialization is Torture and Interrogation."

"What!?" asked a shocked Kurenai.

"Although he won't be physically torturing them in the exam, I can guarantee the kids are feeling a large degree of mental stress from his interrogation tactics," Asuma informed her. "He is... The ANBU's Torture and Interrogation Squad Leader. I can just imagine what they're going through..." he said with a small smile.

'A hopeless rule?' Naruto mentally asked himself.

"First, you are all going to choose whether or not you wish to take the final question," Ibiki told them. This announcement shocked everyone the room.

'Choose whether or not to take the final question?' Sasuke asked himself.

The blonde Suna-nin gasped. "Choose? So what happens if we choose not to take the tenth question?"

"Simple," said Ibiki still smirking confidently, "Your test points will be reduced to zero and you fail, along with your fellow teammates."

"What's the meaning of that?" asked a random Genin.

"Of course we'll take it!" shouted another.

"Teammates also failing is bull!" complained a third.

"And here is another rule!" said Ibiki as he closed his eyes. The shouting Genin all became silent.

'What!? Another rule? What gives?' Sakura asked herself.

"If you choose to take the final question and you get it wrong..." said Ibiki, "You will...Forever lose the privilege of ever taking the Chuunin Selection Exam again!"

"What kind of crap rule is that!?" shouted the familiar voice of Inuzuka Kiba, "There are people in here that have taken the exams before!" Akamaru barked as if to emphasize what Kiba was saying.

Ibiki seemed amused by Kiba's outburst and started chuckling, "You're unlucky this year... Because this year is my first year as the exam proctor and I make the rules! That's why I'm giving you all one last chance to back out now. Those who are not confident can choose not to take the question and take the next Chuunin Exam, or the one after that..." Ibiki started laughing.

Sakura on the other hand, was quite panicked. 'So if one person decides not to take it, all three fail... If someone chooses to take the question and answer incorrectly, that person will never rise above Genin... Either way... It's not good...'

Naruto just blinked, while Saeko just shook her head. 'Only a complete idiot will fall for this.' She thought. 'He has no authority over other shinobi villages and can't dictate who they let take the exam.' She looked to her side at Naruto just to see if he reacted. She was happy to see that he had no indication that he believed what he said.

"Let us begin..." said Ibiki, "Those who will not be taking the tenth question, raise your hands. After we confirm your numbers, you will be free to go."

'This is like that question Shisou asked me yesterday.' Naruto thought to himself as he thought about it. 'Too bad I forgot what the question was and my answer.' He thought.

'I'm not raising my hand, I'm confident enough that I can get the problem right,' Sakura thought to herself. 'But, Naruto I know you can't. You may look calm on the out side but I know... Please... Raise your hand... We can help you the next time...' watching Naruto fidget in his seat.

'This is way I hate waiting. This is so boring.' Naruto thought.

'Somebody needs to stand up or something.' Shisou thought.

Suddenly the tense atmosphere was broken, the Konoha-nin sitting next to Naruto stood up. "I… won't take it." He said. "I'm sorry Genni, Inoho." He said shaking.

"No. 50, fail! 130, 111 also fail." A proctor said.

"Damn it." The Konoha genin said.

"Me too!!" A taki nin said standing up with his hand raised.

"And me!!" Someone else shouted. "Sorry guys" He said.

"Me too", "I quit", "And me" Rang out from various ninja across the room. He listened to the proctor call out the numbers of the people who failed.

Naruto started to laugh loudly. "What's so funny?" Ibiki said glaring at Naruto. The rest of the shinobi in the room turned to Naruto who was wiping tears from his eyes.

"Oh it's just funny how stupid people are. They want to aim high. Becoming the best jounin, Kage yet they don't want to take the risk." Naruto started with a smile. Naruto face suddenly turned into serious expression as he looked at Ibiki. "But that not how I am. I'll take all the risks that will come to me. To become the greatest no risk is too high. If I fail and can't become a chuunin, Than I'll be a kage level genin who could kick your ass. So stop fucking around and tell us the last question." Naruto said in an unusually serious voice.

"I'll ask you again. Your life is riding on this decision, this is your last time to quit." Ibiki said staring at Naruto.

"Bring it on. My words are my bond I'll never take them back." Naruto replied with a smirk. Ibiki looked at the kid and held back his smirk. He looked around the room seeing everyone who was about to give up was now looking at him with an aura of complete confidence. The Haruno girl was smiling, and the Uchiha prodigy was smirking. The girl next to the vessel was looking at Ibiki with a blank face thou he could tell she held back a smirk. The Nara boy was also smirking in the corner and Gai's student Rock Lee had an uncharacteristic cocky grin on his face as well. Even the Yamanaka girl was looking at the vessel in interest. His brother had a huge grin on his face. Even the other proctors look pleased.

'Interesting kid...' thought Ibiki, 'He's risen all of their confidence levels... Wiped out all uncertainty... Seventy eight students... Twenty six teams... Far more than expected... Doesn't look like I should wait any longer...' Each of the proctors gave their signal, "Well then... Since you all seem so determined... Everyone here... PASSES!" he finished with a grin. He watched as each of the examinees registered his words. One by one he saw the looks of shock, disbelief and even anger.

Mentally, he counted down in his head, '3... 2... 1...'

"Wait!? What's that supposed to mean!?" shouted the pink haired Haruno girl.


	3. The forest of death and Naruto's defeat

**Naruto of the moon blade**

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon/Huge Summoning/Inner Sakura talking"**

"_Flash Back"_

Chapter 3

"Wait!? What's that supposed to mean!?" Sakura shouted.

At this Morino Ibiki laughed. "There never was a tenth question to begin with... or rather, you could call your two choices the tenth question." He said smiling.

"Huh?" Sakura replied.

"Hey!! That what were the first nine questions for?!!! They were pointless than!!" Temari yelled out.

"They were not pointless…They had already served their intended purpose." He explained.

"! Hn." Temari let out.

"To test you're your individual information gathering ability… That purpose." He said.

'He suddenly changed personalities' Temari thought. "Information gathering?" She asked.

"First, as the rules explained, success on this test is dependent on the whole team doing well. This puts pressure on the each member not to mess up things for their teams." He explained.

Naruto nodded his head with his arm folder. "That was obvious." Naruto said.

'Lair' Three people thought together.

"But the questions on the test were not the types that could be answer by genin. Because of that most people came to the same conclusion that to score points you would have to cheat. Basically…the premise of this test is to cheat. As cheating targets, we had two or more chuunins who knew all the answers mixed into the crowd. To help you guys out. " He explained. As the two chuunin hidden in the group turned back. Naruto saw that the one he cheated off of was the chuunin and blink.

"Man…sure was tough finding that guy." Somebody from behind Naruto said.

"Sure was." He heard. Naruto just stared blankly at Ibiki. Saeko looked towards Naruto with an eyebrow raised.

'So he cheated and didn't know he was supposed to cheat.' Saeko thought.

'I'll just go with the flow.' Naruto thought. "Yeah, you would have to be an idiot not to realize that." Naruto said.

'Wait he cheated and he didn't know. Damn Naruto I thought you would have figured it out.' Shisou thought.

Ignoring Naruto, Ibiki went on, "Of course those who cheated like fools, were systematically failed. "Why? You might ask," he said pulling off his bandana revealing a bald, scarred scalp. Mostly everyone flinched seeing his scalp. "Because… In times information is more important than life… and on missions and on the battlefield. People risk their lives to get it." He said.

'Horrible…Burns, screw holes scars…The after-effect of torture.' Sasuke thought.

Both Naruto and Shisou eyes glazed over as Shisou right hand when to his chest and Naruto's right hand arm began to shake underneath the desk. 'Hehe, must be worst under those gloves. Of course I wouldn't make the mistake of becoming a prisoner.' The one-eyed oto-nin thought.

'I've seen worst.' Katsu thought. Saeko looked uninterested.

"The information an enemy gets after being noticed by a third person, may not always be accurate. Remember, collecting incorrect information can cause heavy loss to both your teammates and your village. Thus, we made you gather information in the form of cheating." He told them as he retied his hitai-ate bandana. "We simply chucked out those who were lacking in that field during that part of this exam."

"I still don't get the purpose of the tenth question." Temari said.

"The tenth question was the main question of the First Exam." Ibiki answered.

"What do you mean?" asked Sakura.

"The tenth question was a 'take or not take' choice," Ibiki explained, "It was a painful two choice problem, those who did not take it failed with their teams. If you chose to take it and could not answer it your right to take the exam would have been stripped from you forever...A truth leap of faith." Ibiki walked towards the center of the room. "I'll give an example..."

"Say you have been made a Chuunin..." he said, "Your mission is the retrieval of a secret document. Your number of enemy ninja, their abilities and their armament are completely unknown to you. You may even encounter traps set up by enemy ninja. Do you accept this mission or not?" he asked them sternly, "Just because your life, as well as those of your teammates may be in danger, are you going to avoid the mission altogether? The answer is No. There are many missions that involve very heavy risks and can not be avoided." He paused for effect, "Your ability to show your teammates courage when needed and to get through even the worst situations is what we look for in a Chuunin, a squad leader. Those who can not bet their fate in a critical situation... Those who give up when given the chance because there is always next year... and then walk away from their chance. Those pieces of trash who can only make cowardly choices… Don't have the right to be chuunin. That is what I believe. Those of you who stayed, who had chosen to take the tenth question, answered it correctly. You have gotten your foot into the entrance and I believe without a doubt that you can get through the difficulties you will undoubtedly face. The First Exam of the Chuunin Selection Exams end right now. I wish you all good luck." he said with a small, proud, smile on his face. Ibiki, Saeko, Shisou, Katsu, and Naruto glanced at a window as a large object came flying threw the window.

Many of the genin shielded their eyes from the flying shards of glass. Kunai flew from the mass as it seemed to expand. When everyone looked up from the chaos that had taken the room by storm they saw a huge banner with a barely dressed woman in front of it. She was very attractive and was a spitfire of energy. She wore a fishnet tank top, a barely legal miniskirt and a tan trench coat. The banner behind her read 'Second Examiner, Mitarashi Anko is here!'.

"Listen up maggots! This is no time to get happy!" the scantily clad woman shouted, "I am the second examiner, Mitarashi Anko! Let's start the next exam! Follow me!" She said pumping her hand in the air.

'Damn' Shidou thought with a slight blush. It just so happens that Naruto thought the exact same thing.

Ibiki peeked from behind the banner and looked at her. "Bad timing." He said. Anko blushed in embarrassment as she frowned.

'This examiner is Naruto-ish…at least how he used to be.' Sakura thought.

"Seventy eight...?" she asked with a cocky smirk, "Ibiki, you let twenty six teams pass?" Now she was the one speaking in the annoyed tone while Ibiki was glaring at her. "The test was way too easy this time."

"We simply have an exceptional batch of students this time," commented Ibiki. Anko merely huffed in aggravation.

"Oh well..." Anko sighed. "I'll at least cut them half in the second exam." she said darkly.

'At least in half…cut us' Sakura thought scared.

"I'll give you all the details when we change places. Now follow me." She said with a evil look on her face.

Outside of a dense forest

"Danger stay out" Naruto read out loud as he looked at the sign on the gate surrounding the dense forest.

"This is the location of the second exam," said Anko, "Konoha's infamous 44th training ground... The Forest of Death!" she said with a sinister smile.

"The Forest of Death?" asked Naruto.

"What a creepy place..." commented Sakura.

"You'll soon find out EXACTLY why it's called the Forest of Death," said Anko.

"Humph...It just looks like a big forest to me." Naruto mocked. Anko smirked.

"Forest? That just an over grown garden waiting to be cut down." Shisou said stopping by Naruto's right side.

Anko smirk widen as she drew two kunai quickly and threw them at the brothers. Naruto and Shisou didn't move as the kunai flew pass them slightly grazing their face before hitting the ground behind them. Anko appeared behind them with a kunai to each of their necks. "I like you two…" She said semi-seductively before licking the blood leaking from Shisou's cheek. "Because kids like you get kill quickly and spraying the red blood I love" She said switching to Naruto and licking the blood off his cheek.

'Weird woman.' Shisou thought.

'That actually feels nice.' Naruto thought. She suddenly sensed someone and drew a kunai. Anko's eyes suddenly darted away from Naruto to the approaching figure behind her. Drawing a kunai from her wrist holster, she moved to defend herself from her possible attacker, who simply held the kunai Anko had just thrown in her long coiled tongue. Before Anko or the ninja could say anything, the nin felt a sword as his and Anko felt one on hers. They looked at the blades and followed them to the owners. Anko saw Shisou on her right with his nodachi in hand while the female Kusa nin behind her saw Naruto at the end of the sword.

"That wasn't very nice." Shisou said like he was talking to kids.

"Yeah. You two have been very bad girls. We may have to punish you." Naruto added.

"But we could ignore it if you two promise to play nice for now on." Shisou said.

"Or you could just take the spanking." Naruto added directly towards Anko.

"Which one…" Shisou started.

"Will you pick?" Naruto finished. They both had eerie smirks on their face. Anko and the Kusa nin eyes twitched as they looked at them. The Kusa nin turned to Anko with a smirk.

"I guess I will have to apologize now. Though I was just returning your kunai to you" The kusa-nin replied. She didn't look the least bit surprise that they were there.

"Than I guess I should thank you." Anko replied taking the kunai from her tongue. "But you know…You shouldn't sneak up behind me unless you want to die" Anko said with her eyes close. The Kusa nin was about to reply when Anko let out a yelp as two hands hit her backside. She turned her head to her side looking at Shisou and then Naruto with a blush of embarrassment on her face and a cold glare.

"We told you to play nice. Didn't we?" Shisou said.

"But hey if you want a spanking just tell me. I'll be happy to oblige." Naruto said huskily with a smirk. Most of the genin started to snicker at the exchange while a few of them had different opinions.

'Hn, I was right in picking him as my target. His brother is strong I'll give him that but he just seems wrong to me, plus he's holding the katana a little too tightly. I can't wait to fight you Naruto hopefully you will be the one to give me the challenge I need.' Saeko thought with a glint in her eyes.

'I barely saw them draw their katana. They remain me of Saeko. I guess I really will have to add Naruto to my list but Shisou comes first.' Katsu thought. 'Though Saeko would be mad if I took Naruto out before she fought him. Hn, what to do?' He thought smirking.

'You're going down fucker.' Shido thought glaring at Naruto.

'How did they get pass her like that? They couldn't be stronger than me. She must have let them pass.' Sasuke thought.

'Naruto you pervert, I'm going to kick your ass.' Sakura thought.

"Hn, Maybe I'll take you up on that offer later fox boy but for now when have a test." Anko said with a predator-like leer. Naruto and Shisou sheath their blades and moved away from Anko just incase she would attack them. They were lucky when she just walked back to her previous position. Shisou eyed the kusa nin before he walked back to Naruto's side. The Kusa nin smirked and walked back to her team.

"Hey Shisou." Naruto whispered.

"Yeah?" He asked.

"Did we just get away with smacking her ass?" Naruto whispered.

"Yeah I think we did." He said. They looked at each other before they busted out laughing. Anko coughed getting everyone's attention. She glared at the two demon container before speaking.

"Now, before we start the second exam... I have to pass these out to you," she reached inside her trench coat and pulled out a stack of forms. "Release papers. If you wish to take this exam, you have to sign these first."

"Why?" asked Naruto curiously.

"Because there WILL be deaths in this exam, and if I don't have you sign one of these... It would be all my responsibility." Anko answered with a smile, "Also, it's less paperwork this way! Now, I have to explain this exam to you. To make a long story short, you will be part of the ultimate survival exercise." She handed a nearby genin the stack of release forms and they were being passed around to each of the Chuunin hopefuls.

"Survival... Troublesome..." muttered Shikamaru lazily.

Pulling out a map she began to further explain. "First, I'll explain the layout of the exam. Around Training Ground 44 are 44 locked gates. There's a forest, a river and a tower in the center. It's about 10 kilometers between the gates and the tower. During the survival portion in the forest you are to perform a certain task. Each team will be given a scroll marked either heaven or earth. Twenty six teams made it past the first exam, only half... Thirteen... will each get a heaven scroll; the other thirteen teams will each get an earth scroll. Each team will battle for the other one's scroll. You must make it to the tower with both a heaven and an earth scroll with every member of your team."

"So thirteen teams will lose their scrolls?" asked Sakura. "That means half the teams participating will fail."

"True, but there is also a time limit," Anko added, "This portion of the exam will last only 120 hours. Exactly five days from the beginning of the exam."

"F-Five days!" shouted Ino.

"Wh-what about dinner!" shouted Chouji.

"Sorry maggots, but you're on your own!" Anko informed them. "The forest is full of food. Scrounge some up if you have to!"

"Just watch out for the man-eating animals and poisonous plants and insects..." commented Kabuto.

"Ah, man..." Chouji complained.

"That's why it's called survival baka!" hissed Ino.

"It is highly unlikely that thirteen teams will pass." Neji said.

"And as the days progress, the distance from the goal will become farther and farther," Rock Lee added, "And the time to rest will become shorter." He then gave a competitive smirk. "This will definitely get interesting!"

"And the entire area is virtually crawling with enemies..." noted Sasuke, "It is unlikely that anyone will get much rest in any case..."

"So, not only will people fail by losing their scroll, but also if they fail to arrive within the five day time limit." clarified Anko, "While others will perish under the harshness of the course."

"Ummm..." said Shikamaru raising his hand, "Are you allowed to quit during the exam?"

"As a rule, no, there is no giving up in the middle of the exam," Anko replied with a scowl at the Nara boy's question. "You WILL be in the forest for five days regardless."

"Troublesome..." he mumbled, while Ino was visibly restraining herself from bashing her teammate over his head.

"Now, as this is an exam, there are a few things that will get you disqualified," Anko continued, "First, if your team does not make it with BOTH scrolls at the end of the five day time limit. Second, if your team loses a team member through death or incapacitation... In other words, if even one of your teammates is unable to physically carry on. And a final rule... You MUST NOT look inside the scrolls until you make it to the tower."

"What happens if you do?" asked Ino.

"For anyone who does... They will be in for a surprise, and believe me kid, you DO NOT wish to find out," Anko replied with that sadistic smirk that even made the most stoic Genin a bit unnerved. "There will be times where a Chuunin will be asked to handle classified information. This will be to trust your trustworthiness. Well, that's all for my explanations! We'll exchange three forms for either a heaven or an earth scroll over there," Anko said pointing to a desk set up nearby. "And then we will choose which gates will be your starting points and then you will all start together! One final word of advise..." she said with a sigh. "Don't die!"

After everyone was handed a form Naruto went and leaned against a tree. He quickly read the form before signing. He than turned around and looked across each of the teams and smirked.

"Strong opponents, all in the same area all fighting for scrolls, this is exciting." Naruto said with excitement in his voice.

"Calm down, we haven't even started yet. Though I have to agree." Shisou said appearing next to him. "Did you finish filling out your form?" He asked. Naruto nodded before turning to him

"Hn, you know we will also be enemies." Naruto said.

"Yeah but lets avoid each other until the next exam. I want to fight you when everyone watching. That way I could gloat after it's all over and you can't try to change how things happened." Shisou said with a playful smirk.

"As if you will defeat me." Naruto replied.

"You two talk as if you're sure your going to get the chance to fight each other. After all you could be defeated by someone before then." Katsu said walking up to them with his team. Naruto and Shisou turned towards him and his team and smirked.

"That won't happen um…" Naruto started.

"Oh where are my matters. My name is Tamotsu Katsu, That's Osamu Shido, and since you didn't meet her yet." He said looking at Shisou. "She is Busujima Saeko." Katsu said. Shido looked at them blankly while Saeko glanced at Shisou before looking towards Naruto.

"Uzumaki Naruto." Naruto said smirking.

"Uzumaki Shisou." Shisou said also with a smirk.

"Now as I was saying. That won't happen because we are the best and can't be stopped." Naruto said.

"You're very cocky" Shido said with a glare.

"Not cocky. Just very, very confident." Naruto said smirking. Shido glared harder and opened his mouth to say something when Saeko stepped up.

"It's good to be confident in your self but do you have the skills to back it up?" She asked calmly.

"Of course I do Saeko-chan." Naruto said smiling. Saeko looked stunned that he added 'chan' to her name. Shido growled at Naruto and stepped to him.

"You…how dare you address her so familiarly?" Shido snarled.

"Well it was quite simple. First, since I know her name I opened my mouth and said it. Then at the end of her name I said 'chan'. Do you understand now?" Naruto asked slowly. Saeko stared at him with a small grin on her face. Shisou and Katsu were looking at them trying to hold back their laugher. "Though if you don't, I would understand after all you don't look the least bit smart to me." Naruto added.

"You bastard." Shido let out lunging at him. He would had hit him too him if Naruto didn't crouch down to pick up an crumbled paper that was oddly between his feet. Shido crashed into the ground as Naruto looked at it.

"Hey look I found a hundred ryo." Naruto said standing back up. He pocketed it and looked around. "Hey were did Shido-teme go?" Naruto asked. Shisou and Katsu at this point were opening laughing. Even Saeko was chuckling. Naruto turned around to see Shido on the floor and titled his head. "Hey, why are you on the floor?" Naruto asked innocently making them laugh harder. Shido stood up and growled.

"You…you piece of trash!" Shido yelled. At the moment Shisou, Saeko, and Katsu stopped laughing. Naruto and Shisou took on a serious look as they stared at Shido. Naruto turned from him clutching his fist tightly and wordlessly walked away to find his team. Shisou Stared at Naruto before turning back to Katsu.

"It was nice to meet you. But I have to go to my team now. Hopeful we will get to fight in the last round." Shisou said.

"I hope so too." Katsu said. "But I think Saeko would rather fight your brother." He said glancing at Saeko who was still watching Naruto.

"I kind of figured that when I first saw her. Though I was hoping she found him cute enough to date." Shisou said smirking. Saeko snapped out of her thinking and looked towards Shisou with a light blush on her face. Katsu blinked a couple of times before chucking.

"You never know. She could probably want that too. But only time will tell since… she won't even tell me." Katsu said smirking. Saeko narrowed her eyes at him but said nothing.

"Ja ne" He said turning around while casting Shido a glare that made Shido flinch back. Saeko and Katsu held a expressionless look as they watched Shisou leave. Saeko remained quiet and went to lean on the tree to fill out her form while Katsu looked at him with a heated glare.

"You fool. You just made yourself two enemies." He whispered.

"So what? Both of them are weak. They couldn't stand up to me" He replied smugly.

"Hn." 'You are truly a fool Shido… Their eyes, they changed. They held darkness deeper than the darkest abyss. To think one sentence would set them off.' He thought turning around. 'But that just makes me want to fight them all the more. I bet your feeling the same way cousin.' He thought looking towards Saeko as she finished filling out the form.

'His eyes they turned red. Is it a kekkei genkai? No…the only one with red eyes in Konoha is the Sharingan and that has black tomoe in them. His was just red with a slit.' She felt Katsu and Shido stand next to her as she turned around and leaned against the tree. She looked over and saw Naruto standing next to his female team member on his right and the Uchiha on his left.

Reading over his form to make sure every thing was correct, Sasuke watched as they put up a curtain around the desk that had been set up. 'I see... So you can't tell which team gets what scroll... Or even who on the team will be carrying it... Just as Ibiki said... We'll be fighting and risking our lives for this information...' He looked over to Sakura to see her a little nervous and shook his head. He turned to Naruto to see a blank expression on his face. 'What wrong with him?' He thought.

At this moment Naruto was pissed. No beyond pissed. He was so angry he couldn't come up with a right word to describe how pissed he was. That one line brought up a whole lot of bad memories that he did not want to remember, most being violent. He looked at Shido with a glare. If he was anywhere else he would have be dead either by Naruto's hand or Shisou. Naruto turned and saw his brother glancing at him as though expecting him to do something. 'Shisou was always better at holding his emotions in.' Naruto thought. He reached into his pocket and started to finger a necklace that Shisou gave him a few years ago. He came out of his trance when he heard Anko talk.

"Alright, it's about time to exchange for the scrolls!" shouted one of the proctors.

In groups of three, each team moved towards the desk to turn in their Release Forms and retrieve their scrolls.

'I can't help but wonder how many of the teams will actually make it...' Anko checked her watch, "Once you've received your scrolls follow an instructor to your gate of entry! We'll start in 30 minutes!

"Alright!" Kiba shouted. As his team arrived at Gate 16, "This sort of thing is our specialty."

He then noticed Shisou seemed out of it. "Hey, Shisou, you Okay?" He asked.

"Yeah I'm fine. Just thinking." He replied.

"You shouldn't worry about your brother. He will pass." Shino said.

"I know." He said. 'But that doesn't stop the feeling that something bad is going to happen to his team.' Shisou thought.

At Gate 27...

"This sucks... But I guess we'll have to do this troublesome exercise..." complained Shikamaru. "Normally, I'd say we go after Naruto's team, but after what we've seen today, he's come farther than any of the rest of us. Not to mention Sasuke definitely isn't a slouch either. The only one we don't really know about is Sakura, but since Naruto's a lot stronger than he used to be, it stands to chance that she is too," Shikamaru said to Ino and Chouji.

"Hey, which one should I have?" asked Chouji rustling through his pack looking at each bag of chips.

"Baka!" Ino shouted as she bonked him on the head, "Pay attention!"

At gate 23

"So what's the plan?" Katsu asked Saeko.

"Why are you asking me? You usually come up with the plans." She replied.

"Even if I do, we usually wind up using you plan after hearing mine. So I thought to just skip the process." Katsu said.

"But that isn't why you're asking me." Saeko replied.

"As fast as ever I see. So are we going after Naruto's team in the forest?" He asked.

"Why would you want too?" She asked him.

"Well I would rather fight Shisou in the next exam so all it leaves is Naruto." He said.

"I say we take him out in the forest." Shido said with an evil smirk.

"I want to fight him in the next exam too so we'll avoid him for now." Saeho said ignoring Shido's comment.

"Fine with me but If I wind up fighting him, just to say no hard feelings." He said.

"If you don't kill him there will be none." Saeko said emotionlessly.

"That's hard to guarantee." He said with an evil smirk. Saeko merely looked at him and turned back to the forest.

'They are ignoring me.' He thought clutching his fist tightly.

Over at Gate 12...

"Finally we are starting." Naruto said excitedly.

"**Shannaro!" **Inner Sakura agreed with Naruto, while Sakura merely smiled and Sasuke gave his trademark confident smirk. From a nearby loud speaker Anko's voice was heard at each gate.

"The second exam of the Chuunin Selection Exam begins now!" After she said this a loud horn sounded and each of the gates opened.

The team walked into the forest and after a few minutes a sudden scream stopped them in their tracks

"That was fast." Naruto said.

"That looks like it's started," stated Sasuke.

"I'm a little nervous..." said Sakura.

"We should probably speed up before all the scrolls are taken." Naruto said. Sakura and Sasuke nodded and they jumped to the trees. After ten minutes of leaping from the trees, Team 7 stopped and landed in the clearing.

"So anyone got a plan?" Naruto asked. They both looked at him before going deep into thought. After a few minutes Sasuke looked up.

"We should head to the tower. Everyone else will be headed there so we have a better chance of finding someone with an earth scroll than to just go looking around." Sasuke said.

"Great idea Sasuke-kun" Sakura shrieked.

'That isn't that complicated. But what else to expect?' Naruto thought. "Your plan sucks." Naruto said.

"Naruto shut up. You're just mad you didn't think of it." Sakura said.

'Bitch' Naruto thought.

"We will stick to… look out!" Sasuke said grabbing Sakura and jumping out the way. Naruto jumped back quickly as a dozen of kunai came raining down on them. When they landed they turned quickly to the direction of where the kunai came from. They saw a genin from grass. She has long black hair and is wearing beige shirt and blue pants.

"Ku, ku, ku, ku. Look what we have here. An Uchiha, Haruno, and an Uzumaki. It must be my lucky day." She said.

"Lucky day? Yeah right you're going to get your ass kicked." Naruto said recognizing the girl.

"Really now?" She said with an amused smile on her face. She reached into her kunai pouch and brought out a brown scroll with the Kanji for earth on it.

"Hey she got the earth scroll." Sakura said. Sasuke smirked arrogantly as he looked at her.

"How about your hand that over and you will leave here alive." Sasuke said smugly.

"Ku, ku, ku if you want it come take it from me." She said opening her mouth. She put the scroll in her mouth and swallowed it.

"Ewww! That is gross. I don't even want that scroll anymore." Naruto said with a disgusted look on his face. Sakura and Sasuke nodded as they stared at the grass ninja.

"Lets see what you got." She said pulling down the skin under her right eye. Suddenly all three of them were hit with intense killing intent. Team 7 saw various flashes of their own deaths splayed right before their very eyes. Blood was everywhere, kunai embedded into their foreheads, bodies mutilated until they were just barely recognizable. All three of them looked in shock frozen at what they just saw. Two of them out of fear while the other of out of shock. They started to shake as they stared at her.

'A genin should not be able to do that.' Naruto thought as he recovered from the jutsu. The grass ninja looked at Naruto as he stopped shaking her smirk getting wider.

"You are very interesting Uzumaki Naruto. How about we play?" She said.

"Fine with me." Naruto said smirking. He walked in front of his team and made a T-like sign. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu." He said. Three clones appeared in a puff of smoke. Two quickly grabbed Sakura and Sasuke and leap off into the trees with the other one heading into the forest after them. Sasuke tried to protest but couldn't due to the affects of the jutsu. Naruto turned serious as he looked at the Nin. "Just who the fuck, are you?" Naruto said.

"It seems you realized I'm not a genin Uzumaki Naruto or should I say your real name? Namikaze Naruto, son of the Fourth Hokage Namikaze Minato, and Uchiha Haizai, the strongest Uchiha that generation since Itachi. Too bad you haven't activated the Sharingan. You might have been a great container"

"I repeat, who are you?" Naruto asked spreading his legs with his left arm limp in front of him and his right hand on the katana on his back.

"I'm Orochimaru of the legendary Sanin." She said with her voice changing into a masculine one and her pulling down her face. Yellow eyes locked with Naruto's narrowed blue eyes.

"What are you doing here then snake-teme?" Naruto asked in a dangerous tone even though he knew he didn't stand a chance.

"I would so love to take your body, Naruto-kun, but since you're useless right now, I'd rather not. I'll just take your older brother after all he is much more powerful than you." He said smirking.

"I will not let you near my brother." Naruto snarled angrily. He ran at Orochimaru while reeling his fist back. Naruto threw a punch when he reached Orochimaru just to have it blocked. Orochimaru punched Naruto away. He watched Naruto hit a tree before hearing a burning sound. He looked down seeing a kunai with a explosive tag on it and jumped away as it exploded. Naruto landed on the ground drawing his sword and holding it slanted in front of him. The stainless steel shinned brightly reflecting the suns rays of the blade. He saw the dust disappear revealing Orochimaru who was farther away from the blast area.

"Kukuku you're a pest." He said laughing. He bit his thumb and did a few hand seals. "Kuchiyose no jutsu!" A giant brown snake appeared underneath Orochimaru. "Eat him" He said. The snake looked its eyes on Naruto and quickly dived towards him with its jaw open. Naruto simple smirked as he added chakra to his sword.

"Kenkai: Chakra no yaiba." Naruto said. Visible whitish blue chakra engulfed the blade and expanded forty more inches longer and 10 inches wider. The chakra took on the form of a double edged sword with the sword as the medium. Naruto held the sword horizontally as the snake came closer. Naruto acted quickly just as the snake reached him. Naruto jumped to the right side causing the snake to rush into his sword. Just as the sword was in it's mouth Naruto twisted the blade so the edge was pointing upward and the other one was pointing towards the ground. Naruto jumped up swinging his katana upward.

Orochmaru leap off the snake as the sword sliced through its flesh, cutting its eyes to it's upper jaw off the rest of the body. Blood flew into the sky as the chakra blade disappeared. The top part of the snakes head hit the ground with a loud thump causing dirt to be lifted into the air. Naruto looked around as he descended to the ground. Right when Naruto landed he doubled over coughing out blood due to the fist in his stomach. Orochimaru pulled his fist back and brought his right leg upward kicking Naruto in the face. Naruto flew back into the air and landed face first on the ground. After a few seconds when Naruto didn't get up Orochimaru walked towards him.

"I see. This is all you have to offer." Orochimaru said stopping right in front of him. Naruto eyes snapped open as he quickly pushed himself off the ground with his hands. Naruto flipped in the air aiming to kick Orochimaru. The sanin leaned back dodging the attack and punched the demon container in the middle of his back. Naruto flew back but continued his flip, landing on the ground in a crouch as he slid back. He came to a stop and slanted his sword right in front of him. He didn't get a chance to recover as he heard a shout.

"Sen'eijashu" Orochimaru said as multiple snakes came from his sleeves heading towards Naruto. Naruto quickly brought his sword up while releasing chakra into the air. He gathered the chakra lashed wind around his sword as he jumped back dodging the snakes. The snakes turned and headed towards him. He raised his sword overhead ready to strike.

"Futon: kyokudo reza Kaze." Naruto yells swinging his sword downward. A large gust of wind comes down from his sword hitting and slicing up the snakes. Blood and snake parts fall to the ground as Naruto lands. He turns quickly leaning back dodging a punch. Naruto swings his katana horizontally at Orochimaru's head. He ducks only getting a few strains of hair cut. Naruto lets up his feet trying to kick him only to be blocked. Orochimaru rose quickly giving Naruto an uppercut also lifting him into the air. Naruto flew back but recovered flipping in the air and landing on his feet.

Naruto panted as he wiped the blood off his chin as he stared at the smirking snake summoner. Naruto stood up and added chakra to his legs for a burst of speed. "Ku, Ku, Ku, Ku. Since you favor Kenjutsu let me draw my blade." He said. "Kusanagi no Tsurugi: Ku no Tachi!" Orochimaru opened his mouth and a huge snake head appeared and opened its' mouth. It seemed to be spitting out a sword hilt. He grabbed the hilt of the sword and pulled it from the snake's gaping maw as it retreated back into his own mouth. "Lets go Naruto-kun." He said mockingly ignoring Naruto's disgusted looked.

Naruto shook off his disgust and suddenly burst forward with incredible speed with his sword pointing to his right side. Naruto swung his blade horizontally only to hear the clang sound of the metal of the two katana colliding. Naruto spun to his left twisting the blade and swung it horizontally again. Orochimaru looked on with glee as he blocked other strike. He pushed Naruto blade back and went on the offensive. Naruto tried to block as many swings as he could but Orochimaru was just too fast. For every one that he block or evaded, he would get cut twice. Soon Naruto was covered with bleeding wounds as he continued to block attacks. 'Come on Naruto. You are stronger than this. See his moves.' Naruto thought. Orochimaru's strikes started to get clearer to Naruto but he still wasn't fast enough to block most of them. Naruto had enough and jumped back.

He added chakra to his sword again as he landed. "Sonikku yaiba" He said swinging his sword downward. A vertical sonic arc appeared heading straight for Orochimaru. He jumped out of the way dodging the attack still smirking. Orochimaru looked upon Naruto, his black shirt that now had several slashes through it showing his bloody chain mail shirt. Orochimaru ran towards Naruto at a quick pace with his sword positioned for a thrust. Naruto could now pick up most of his movement and jumped to the side dodging the strike. Once he landed he ran at him while adding chakra to his sword. "Ryuu no Mai: Sonikku kata." Naruto said as he reached him. Naruto brought his sword upward hitting Orochimaru's Kusanagi and pushing Orochimaru into the air. After he was high enough Naruto jumped after him. Orochimaru saw this and got ready to defend. Naruto started thrusting his sword forward multiple times only for Orochimaru to block them. After fourteen thrusts Naruto then spun in air and hit Orochimaru's sword causing him to fly towards the ground.

Naruto quickly started swinging his sword towards the snake in multiple ways releasing sonic arcs. After he was done he dropped to the ground and wait for the dust that was picked up to clear. After a few seconds he saw through the dust cloud seeing only mud. 'Fuck' Naruto thought. He sheathed his sword and did some hand seals as he looked around for the snake. He sensed a presence behind him and jumped forward though he wasn't quick enough to completely avoid the slash from Orochimaru. Naruto gritted his teeth trying to block out the pain as he turned around. "Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu." Naruto said blowing out a huge fireball.

The fireball complete engulfed Orochimaru making him scream out. Naruto stopped the jutsu and looked at what remained. He saw a burned log and quickly turned around drawing his katana and holding it in a blocking position. Orochimaru swung his sword down at Naruto with a smirk on his face. His Kusanagi cut straight through Naruto's katana as he brought it down. Orochimaru's katana tip hit the ground as blood erupted from the long gash coming from Naruto's collar bone to his waist. What was left of Naruto's sword dropped from his hand, just before Naruto himself fell to the ground. "Ku, Ku, Ku, Ku. You did pretty well Naruto-kun but not well enough." Orochimaru said as he watched Naruto half opened eyes.

Just then they heard a loud scream that came in the direction of where Sasuke, and Sakura was taken. "Ah! It seems like my clone is finally done with Sasuke." He said looking off into the forest. He turned back to Naruto and smirked evilly.

"B-bastard." Naruto said weakly.

"Ku, ku, ku. Still have enough energy to insult me I see. Oh well time to go after your brother." He said. Orochimaru looked at a tree to his right before laughing evilly and disappeared. After ten seconds Naruto disappeared in a puff of smoke just the broken remains of his sword behind.

Naruto growled from his hiding place behind a tree knowing that he had been let go. He is holding his wound that was starting to heal with a red glow. 'Fuck he not only wounded me but he broke my sword.' Naruto thought. 'If I didn't see my clone here I might have actually got that full strike. But this is my own fault for letting my anger control me again.'

Naruto forced himself to stand up and walked from behind the tree. He walked over to the stop were his clone was. He looked at the remains of his katana and shook his head. He turned around to where he heard his teams scream. 'I'm s-sorry A-Aniki b-but you are going to have to fight on your own.' Naruto thought weakly. He focused on Sakura's chakra signature and started charging up chakra. 'I c-can't s-stay here. I m-must get t-to my team.' He thought he started to move only to fall on something. He blinked before sighing as he was picked up. "Go..to my team." He said. The clone under him nodded before dashing quickly.

Kusanagi Sword: Longsword of the Heavens

Aniki: Older brother

Jutsu list

Kage Bunshin no jutsu: shadow clone jutsu

Kuchiyose no jutsu: Summoning jutsu

Kenkai: Chakra no yaiba: Sword release: Blade of Chakra

Sen'eijashu: Shadow snake hands

Futon: Kyokudo reza Kaze: Wind release: Extreme razor wind

Sonikku yaiba: Sonic blade

Ryuu no Mai: Sonikku kata: Dance of the dragon: Sonic style

Katon: Goukakyuu no jutsu: Fire release: Grant fireball jutsu


	4. The Chuunin preliminaries

Naruto the moon blade

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Demon/Huge Summoning/Inner Sakura talking"

_Flash Back_

Chapter 4

Trees rustled in the eerie light of the dawn. Shadows flickered out as violent gusts of sunlight pushed through the darkness to show off a brand new glorious day. Though, today was not glorious for Team 7. A young pink-haired girl was watching over her two teammates while shaking off sleep. She could not fail. Her teammates-no-friends, needed her. For once in her life, she, not one of the boys, was leader, and the protector of Team 7. She looked over Naruto with questions forming in her mind.

_Flash Back_

_Sakura held on to Sasuke as he held on his neck. "NARUTO! Sasuke-kun is…" She yelled looking for Naruto. _

"_Guaa" Sasuke screamed. Sakura quickly grabbed him again and held him tightly. Tears fell from her eyes as Sasuke screamed again then lose consciousness. _

'_What should I do?' She thought. She looked around again before looking at Sasuke. 'Where is Naruto?' She thought. "NARUTO!" She yelled louder. _

"_S-shut up. You're too loud. You want an enemy team to hear you?" She heard seeing Naruto being carried by a clone. She stared at Naruto as his clone walked toward her. _

"_N-naruto. That weird nin did something to S-sasuke-kun." She said sobbing. _

"_We'll t-talk later. W-we n-need to m-move to s-someplace s-safe." Naruto said weakly before passing out._

"_B-but.." Sakura started._

"_Stop it. You're a ninja act like one. Sasuke will be fine just give him time to rest." Naruto's clone said in commanding tone. Sakura stopped as she stared the clone. "You'll have to move him. I have my hands full with boss." He said. _

"_I-is he ok?" She asked in a shaking tone._

"_He's fine for now…lets go." He said._

_End Flash Back_

'What…am I going to do?' She asked herself as she tried to stay up. She shook her head and felt Sasuke's head. 'His breathing is turning back to normal but he still has a fever.' A rustling noise caught her attention, and she quickly drew a kunai. She started to shake as she turned around. She sighed in relief when she was it was just a squirrel. The squirrel looked at her before running towards her. She looked alarmed as the squirrel came closer. She threw her kunai in front of the squirrel stopping it. The squirrel looking terrified turned and scampered away.

Seemingly unknown to the pink haired kunoichi, a trio of Oto-nins were watching her every move. One with spiky haired turned to the one whose head was wrapped in bandages with the exception of one eye. "Do you think she saw the exploding tag?" he asked in low tones.

"She's exhausted, so it's doubtful, but it would be unwise to underestimate her, Zaku," said the one-eye.

"What can a pathetic little girl like that do? You worry too much Dosu," said the brunette girl of the group.

"A weak opponent can always take down an overconfident one, no matter how much stronger or more skilled they are if they allow themselves to lower their guard," reprimanded Dosu.

"Whatever, I say we toss aside the little girl and dispose of the Uchiha like Orochimaru-sama ordered us to," the girl replied.

"All in good time, have patience Kin," Dosu told her.

"Why? They're weak and she's tired, the timing couldn't be anymore perfect!" snapped Zaku.

"And that's why I'm the leader, baka," Dosu snapped back, "Go charging in there and whatever traps she may have set that you blatantly ignored will cut you down in moments. Worry not, we shall make our move soon enough, as you said before, the other two are weak and she's exhausted, they aren't going anywhere from quite sometime."

Meanwhile, Haruno Sakura was nodding off on watch. Her emerald eyes slowly drooping lower and lower. She had nearly passed out from pure exhaustion when a chuckle and a cold voice sliced through the air.

"Not sleeping and keeping watch all this time... That can't be healthy..." Sakura gasped and jumped a bit in surprise. She quickly spun around and saw the Oto-nins that had attacked Naruto before the written exam. "Wake up Sasuke-kun..." the one-eyed nin ordered Sakura. "We want to fight him."

"What do you mean? Why are you attacking us?" she demanded. Her hand shakily reaching for a kunai. "Is Orochimaru behind this!?" None of the three nins could hide their surprise.

"So he is behind this! What's with the strange mark on Sasuke-kun's neck? You still want to fight him, even after all that has been done to him?" she asked scathingly.

"Well then, with her talking down to us like that, we just can't ignore it now can we?" the spiky haired one asked with a confident smirk. "I'll kill both the weakling girl and that Sasuke guy."

As he stood up, Sakura tensed, ready to defend her boys from the Oto-nins, though as long as she'd been awake she truly wasn't in any condition to fight.

"Wait, Zaku," ordered the cyclops.

"Why?" Zaku inquired. The cyclops didn't answer, he merely took a few steps forward.

"How completely unoriginal," he sarcastically scolded Sakura, "The color of the dirt indicates that it was recently dug up. Some of this grass doesn't even grow here." Sakura flinched as the one eyed nin revealed her trap. "There's no point to a trap, if it wasn't well made."

Zaku laughed behind him. "Ah, so she threw the kunai to keep the squirrel from setting off the trap!"

"Let's kill her quickly," the leader suggested as he, Zaku and the female nin jumped into the air, over Sakura's trap. Sakura smirked and drew a kunai cutting a nearby string, setting off a second trap. The cyclops looked up. "A log! So this was the real trap! No use!" He place his hand out and as he touched the log he made a one handed seal and the log exploded into pieces. "Easy, no talent what-so-ever!"

Sakura's eyes widened as the three Oto-nins drew closer. She stood ready on her feet, her entire body shaking with exhaustion determined to protect her teammates.

"Konoha Daisenpu!" came an excited shout. A spinning green blur knocked all three off of their trajectory path. Sakura closed her eyes instinctively. When she opened them again she was greeted with the sight of Rock Lee standing in between herself and the Oto-nins taking his Goken stance. "You three obviously do not have much talent either. You will have to work much harder."

"Who are you?" demanded the one-eyed nin.

"I am Konoha's Beautiful Blue Beast..." Lee said with a determined look on his face, never once taking his gaze off of his new opponents. "Rock Lee!"

"What are you doing here?" asked Sakura.

"I shall appear anytime you are in danger," Lee answered.

Sakura looked confused, "But you are our enemy," she said taking a quick glance at where Naruto and Sasuke lay.

"I told you before," Lee explained, "I shall protect you to the death."

"Th-Thank you..." she whispered.

"It appears we have no other choice," said the one-eyed nin as he pulled out an Earth Scroll, "Zaku, I leave Sasuke-kun to you. I'll take care of these two." He then threw the scroll at Zaku before he pulled his sleeve up revealing a metal bracer that ran from his wrist to his elbow with various holes in it and charged. Sakura threw a kunai at him, which he dodged as Rock Lee punched the ground and pulled a huge clump of earth from out of the ground.

"I can tell there is some sort of trick to your attack, but I will not fall victim to it!" said Rock Lee as the cyclops looked surprised at the boy's intuitiveness and strength. They stood there staring at each other when Lee began to unwrap his bandages. Sakura instantly recognized what he was doing as she had seen Lee almost do the same thing to Sasuke. The Oto-nin charged a Lee again.

"He disappeared!" the one-eyed nin said as his eye widened.

"Kage Buyo!" Lee said kicking him into the air. Lee then appeared behind him. "I'm not done yet!" The Oto-nin began to panic and struggle as Lee's bandages began to bind him. They began to descend, head first, to the ground.

"Not good! He can't break his fall like that!" shouted Zaku. He then started doing hand seals.

"Take this!" shouted Lee, "Omote Renge!"

Zaku put his hands to the ground as Lee slammed the leader Oto-nin into the ground.

"Just in time..." he said with a cocky smile. The leader then got up from the small crater Rock Lee left him in.

"No way!" Lee shouted.

"Such a terrifying move," said the cyclops Oto-nin dazed, "Even though I landed in the soft ground, it still hurt like hell... My turn!" he said pulling up his sleeve. He charged Lee, but did not land a blow. Lee, however, was still affected.

"Lee-san!" shouted Sakura.

"You're definitely fast on your feet, but even you can't outrun my attack!" said Dosu confidently. "The speed of sound is far greater than you can hope to imagine. You can't get everything through hard work." Lee dropped to his knees. He tried to stand, but was unsuccessful and as soon as he did, he slumped back down and had thrown up as his ear began to bleed.

"Dodging will not help you avoid my attacks. Even though you dodged my fist, the sound still affected you," he said with a small chuckle. "Tell me, what is sound?"

"Vibrations," answered Sakura automatically.

"Exactly," he said, "When you hear something, your eardrums pick up on the vibrations of a sound. "The eardrums will shatter at anything over 150 decibels. It also goes without saying that a person will also lose their sense of balance." the cyclops chuckled, "It will be quite sometime before you're able to move!"

"That's right, simple taijutsu is ineffective against us," gloated Zaku, "It may have gotten a few lucky shots in for a while, but it is nothing compared to our techniques. From here on, things won't be the smooth ride you'd thought it would be. I control supersonic waves and air pressure, I'm even capable of destroying rocks and boulders. As you can see, I can also send air waves through the ground softening it, making it a cushion. It's far different from anything you'll be able to come up with."

'Kuso...' thought Lee.

"You're next little girl!" the leader shouted running past Lee, straight for Sakura. Sakura was shocked from the shift in the attack that she didn't have time to counter, not that she could do so effectively in her state of exhaustion. "What!?"

"Lee-san!" shouted Sakura as Lee suddenly appeared between them.

"Konoha Daisenpu!" shouted Lee, but he was unable to complete his attack as the Oto-nin caught his leg.

"Looks like my last attack is still affecting you! You caught me off guard, but you still couldn't complete your combo!" he said as he swung a fist a Lee. Rock Lee blocked the attack. "My arm amplifies sound that is generated inside of it like a speaker. Through use of my chakra, I can re-direct the direction in which the sound waves travel and still hit my target!" He said. Lee screamed in pain as Sakura called his name again. "All that's left is to finish you off!"

"I won't let you!" shouted Sakura as she through multiple kunai at Lee's opponent, which were blocked by the sound amplifier on his arm. "I can still fight!" She said. Sakura then threw multiple shuriken at him only to have them intercepted by a small wave of air pressure from his spiky haired comrade.

Sakura was then knocked off her feet when the third Oto-nin grabbed a handful of her hair. "Hmm... Your hair is far glossier than mine..." she said to Sakura, "You should train more if you have time to take care of your hair that good. Trying to look all sexy for the boys? Zaku, kill that Sasuke kid in front of this wench!"

"Gladly," he replied.

"I-I won't let you..." Sakura said through clenched teeth. She stifled a grunt of pain as the brunette pulled her hair harder to hold her back.

"Shut up and don't move," she ordered Sakura.

Zaku smirked, "Let's do this then." He strutted confidently over to where Sasuke and Naruto lay.

Sakura drew a kunai. "What's the point of that? You can't attack me from where you are," the Oto kunoichi told her.

Sakura turned her head towards the other kunoichi as best she could. "I won't be the one being protected this time!" Much to everyone's shock, Sakura then took the kunai and sliced a good portion of her long hair off. "They always fought to protect me, Sasuke, Naruto, even Lee... They've fought with everything they could to do so... But this time I won't be a burden," she said standing up. "I will protect them with everything I have!" Sakura's eyes took on a hardened glint that had never been seen in her soft emerald eyes giving them a sort of unseen glow in them. She seemed to be channeling Naruto in that brief moment.

"Sakura..." Lee said as he struggled, in vain, to pull himself off the ground.

"Kin, kill her!" Zaku shouted as Sakura started doing hand seals. The female Oto-nin, Kin, charged Sakura stabbing her in the back, only to hind herself stabbing a log with her kunai.

"Kawarimi!" Kin shouted in surprise.

"Kin stay back!" shouted Zaku as Sakura reappeared charging at him. She then threw various kunai and shuriken at him. "Zankuha!" He pointed both he hands towards the Konoha kunoichi. Her throwing weapons were reflected back at her and she crossed her arms to block the attack as she disappeared in another puff of smoke, the log she replaced herself was warped from Zaku's attack as well as having been struck with a large number of her own weapons. "It's still not going to work," he told the girl as she appeared above him. He threw some kunai at her and then looked around to where she would reappear next, only to find her still descending upon him with a kunai stuck in her left arm and another in her right leg. "Shit!"

She stabbed the kunai deep into his flesh, but he managed to block with so she only injured his arm. "Kuso!" Zaku shouted as he kicked her off of him. She grabbed onto him viciously attacking, clawing at the Oto-nins face and even going as far as to bite him. Zaku became enraged and started to viciously pummel the pink haired kunoichi. "I'll kill you!" He said right before a particularly vicious punch. Her face was bloody, cut and bruised in various places. She pulled another kunai to stab the shinobi again, but he managed to catch her wrist and redirected her arm, thrusting the kunai into the ground.

He rolled on top of her, intent on killing her.

"I will not let you harm them!" she shouted as she flipped him over her head. She rolled onto her stomach and tried to stand only to find herself too exhausted. "Kuso..." she cursed. Exhaustion was taking over, the adrenaline rush she felt coming on slowly fading. Zaku got up, pulling the kunai from his arm and doing as few hand seals. Before he could complete the sequence she charged him again slamming into him hard. Before she could move, Kin kicked her in the side of the head knocking her towards Sasuke and Naruto.

"I will protect them!" she shouted defiantly.

"Ha! You can barely move, what makes you think you can keep me from killing each one of them right in front of you one by one?" taunted Zaku. "Say your prayers bitch!" As he ran through his hand seals again ready to finish her off, when three others appeared in front of Sakura.

Under other circumstances, Sakura would hate who had come to her rescue, but at this point she couldn't have been happier. "Ino..."

"I just couldn't let you have all the fun," replied Ino, "Besides, I can't just let you win over Sasuke-kun by letting you play the heroine and you and Naruto still owe me an explanation."

"They're like cockroaches..." commented the leading Oto-nin.

"Just what the hell were you two thinking just interfering in a fight like this!?" Chouji yelled at Shikamaru and Ino.

"Troublesome as it is... It's even more troublesome if we don't help them out..." Shikamaru said lazily. "Since Ino decided to step in, we, as men, just can't run away."

"Besides, we're a three man team," replied Ino, "There isn't anything we can't do together!"

"B-but! I'm not ready to die just yet!" Chouji pleaded as he tried to get away, only to be held in place by Shikamaru.

"Shut up! We can't help that now!" shouted Shikamaru.

Zaku laughed at the 'big-boned' guys actions, "Go ahead and run if you'd like, Fatty."

Both Ino and Shikamaru gasped and took a step back, the latter instantly letting go of Chouji's scarf as if he had been burned. Chouji, on the other hand, stopped trying to run.

"What did he say?" Chouji asked in a menacing low whisper. "I'm not sure I heard him correctly."

"I said you can go jack off in the woods for all I care, fat ass!" shouted Zaku.

"I'M NOT FAT! I'M BIG BONED!" shouted Chouji turning around abruptly. "Now it's a fight for honor of Konoha and 'big boned' people everywhere! Hhhhhuuurrrrrraaaayyyy For 'Big Boned' People!"

Ino smirked, "Now you've made him angry."

"Troublesome..." said the Nara shaking his head.

"Sakura," Ino said suddenly, "Take care of those two alright. The Ino-Shika-Chou Team is going to fight with everything we have!"

"Baika no Jutsu!" shouted Chouji as he ballooned out to an incredible size. "Nikudan Sensha!" Chouji's limbs and head receded into the 'big boned' guys body as jets of steam streamed out from where each appendage disappeared to. He then began to spin at a very rapid velocity.

"What the hell?" Zaku said placing his hands out in front of him, "Zankuha!" he shouted, streams of air slamming straight into Chouji's gargantuan body. They were at a standstill until Zaku got frustrated and put more power into his jutsu. Chouji then shot up into the air only to start rapidly descending on the spiky haired Oto-nin. "Kuso... Because of his spinning my jutsu is ineffective..."

The leader saw Zaku's predicament and ran to save his partner. Shikamaru decided to step in at this point. "I don't think so! Kagemane no Jutsu!" The Nara boy's shadow lanced out to capture the Oto-nin's shadow, holding him in place. "Kagemane success!"

Meanwhile, Zaku was just barely able to dodge Chouji's attack.

"Dosu! What the hell are you doing?" shouted Kin when she saw him not doing anything.

"Ino, take care of the woman!" ordered Shikamaru.

"No problem, Shika," replied Ino, "Just take care of my body! Shintenshin no Jutsu!" Shikamaru caught Ino as she slumped to the ground. Chouji had Zaku boxed in with no escape in sight.

"Kin! What are you doing?" shouted Zaku.

"What's wrong?" asked Dosu. Kin/Ino then held a kunai to her throat.

"This is it! If you move, she's dead! Unless you want us to do lasting harm to you guys, you'd better drop your scroll and go!" she ordered them. "Once we feel that you're a good distance away, we'll then release her."

Zaku's response was to attack his teammate.

"Chouji!" shouted Kin/Ino. Chouji intercepted the attack taking the brunt of the damage, but Kin was sent flying back into the tree behind her. Ino's body started bleeding.

"Ino!" shouted Shikamaru. Chouji had returned to his normal size, his attack expired and he was in no condition to continue the fight.

"What the hell? They attacked their own teammate..." Kin/Ino said as she got up.

"You took us far to lightly," said Zaku smirking.

"Our purpose is not some dumb scroll or to even make it through the exam," added Dosu,

"It's Sasuke-kun..." Shikamaru's shadow then receded back to him releasing Dosu.

"Ah, I see your jutsu has a set time limit," observed the newly freed Dosu, "And the girl's jutsu... Judging from the blood, if we kill Kin, she dies as well..."

"You'd kill your own teammate?" asked Shikamaru surprised.

"If we have to," said Zaku raising his had towards Kin. "I have to admit though... You almost had us..."

"However... You let your guard down," Dosu informed them.

"Disgusting," said another voice, one Sakura remembered as the pale eyed kid who had confronted Sasuke the day before the second exam started, Hyuuga Neji, the teammate of the girl Naruto trained with and Rock Lee. "Simple Oto-nins waving around their victory by beating a bunch of second rate shinobi like them."

"Lee!" shouted the girl, Ten-Ten, if Sakura remembered correctly.

"Looks like he underestimated them," said Neji seemingly unconcerned for his teammate who was currently unconscious.

"Where do they keep coming from?" asked Zaku, "They're like pesky bugs you just can't get rid of."

"The kid in green is our teammate, and it looks like you went just a little too far," replied Neji as his pale lavender eyes turned white and the veins around his eye bulged, intimidating everyone in the area who was conscious, with the exception of Ten-Ten. Neji then turned his head in surprise as he a felt a huge Chakra spike.

"Neji?" asked Ten-Ten.

"Quit showing off and fight us," demanded Dosu.

Neji smirked, "It looks like I'll no longer have to." That's when everyone else felt it. A sickly, powerful aura saturated the air around them as Sasuke was doused in purple chakra. He abruptly stood up.

"Sasuke-kun! You're awake!" Sakura said excitedly before becoming afraid. As Sasuke slowly stood the purple chakra swirled around him.

"Th-That's... Sasuke... kun..." said Kin/Ino, afraid of what had become of her longtime crush. Mysterious markings now ran down the Uchiha's left arm and the left side of his face. Only Neji seemed unafraid of the new transformation,

"Sakura... Who did that to you?"

"The Cursed Seal..." Dosu gasped.

"Sasuke-kun... Those markings..." Sakura began before being interrupted by Sasuke.

"Don't worry, I can feel the power surging inside of me!" said Sasuke confidently, "I'm stronger than I was before, and it's all because of him. I'm an avenger, I will gain power by any means necessary, even at the cost of my own soul."

'I see...' Dosu observed, 'The markings she mentioned earlier was Orochimaru-sama's own Cursed Seal. I can't believe he was able to survive...'

"Who Sakura? Who did this to you?" Sasuke demanded angrily.

"We did!" said Zaku proudly. Sasuke turned his gaze towards the Oto-nin, his two tomoe Sharingan spinning wildly.

"Ino get out of there!" shouted Shikamaru. The blonde kunoichi immediately complied as Kin's body slumped to the ground. "Chouji hide, now!"

"Shikamaru, what's going on?" asked Chouji.

"I don't know..." he answered. Sasuke's markings spread to cover his entire body.

"This is too much for us, we must leave now," said Dosu to Zaku.

"Whatever! He was half dead just a few minutes ago!" said Zaku going through some hand seals.

"Zaku stop! You don't understand!"

"I'll kill them all!" shouted Zaku. "Zankukyokuha!" Everyone had to cover their faces as Zaku's jutsu struck Sasuke. "Blown to pieces!"

"Who was?" asked someone from behind Zaku. His eyes widened in realization as he was knocked off his feet across the clearing.

"Zaku!" shouted Dosu. 'So fast, even when carrying her.' He thought as Sasuke started some seals.

"Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu!" Several fireballs were streaming at Zaku.

"Too Easy! Zankuha!" he shouted, overpowering the fireballs. Unfortunately for him, there were shuriken within the fireballs and Zaku found himself getting sliced up pretty good, though he wasn't struck in any vital area. Before anyone could say or do anything Zaku found himself doubled over, Sasuke's foot in the center of his back, his arms behind held fast behind him, by the Uchiha.

"This can't be Sasuke-kun..." Ino said in denial, "W-What's happened to him?"

Sasuke smirked, "You seem awfully proud of these arms..." he began to apply pressure, the bones in Zaku's arms began to crack and break.

"S-Stop... Stop it please!" Zaku yelled out in pain. Sasuke began to pull harder, as Zaku's screams became more frequent, until there was finally two loud snaps of Sasuke crippling Zaku's arms. Sasuke then kicked Zaku down to the ground like common trash before turning towards Dosu.

"I guess it's only you left... You had better be much more entertainment than the other guy," said Sasuke still smirking sinisterly at the shaking Dosu.

"Sasuke-kun! STOP!" Sakura finally yelled out embracing the Uchiha in a full hug, tears streaming down her face. "Stop please..." Sasuke glared at her for a moment before the markings receded. Ino had never been more afraid in her entire life, save for the mysterious energy she had felt three days prior. Sasuke then collapsed to his knees and then moved to a sitting position breathing heavily.

"You're strong, we cannot defeat you at this time" said Dosu, their teams scroll now in his hand as he had taken in back from Zaku. "How about you just let us go... For now..." he said putting down the scroll slowly. "I must check on some things first, but I promise you, should we face each other once more, I promise we will neither run nor hide." He said moving over to pick up Zaku. He went over to kin and picked her up also.

"Wait! What has Orochimaru done to Sasuke-kun!?" demanded Sakura. "And why Sasuke-kun!?"

"I do not know, we were ordered to kill him," said Dosu, he then left with his teammates.

"Hey, you guys alright?" asked Chouji to Sakura and Sasuke.

"Troublesome. Ino, take care of that Lee guy!" order Shikamaru as he and Chouji made their way over to Sakura and Sasuke.

'Such abnormal chakra... This strange power is far beyond my knowledge...' thought Neji, observing everything from above.

"Where's Naruto?" Shikamaru asked looking around.

Naruto glared hard at Sasuke from his stop high upon the tree. 'So that is what Orochimaru wanted with him and Shisou. Too bad for him Shisou is already in the tower.' Naruto thought feeling his brother's chakra. Naruto released his chakra that glued him to the tree and fell. Naruto landed with only a little bit of noise. That bit of noise alarmed everyone to his presence expect for Neji who saw him fall. Everyone looked at his torn and blood soaked shirt and bandages under it as he walked over.

"Naruto what happened to you?" Shikamaru asked.

"I got into a fight with a snake." Naruto replied simply. He went over and retrieved the scroll that was on the ground and put it in his pouch. Naruto turned to team ten as they stared at him. "I guess I should thank you for helping my team." Naruto said.

"You should do more than thank us." Ino said.

"Well I can't give you anything else at the moment." Naruto said. "So thank you." Naruto moved over to Sakura and brought out a cloth and some water. "Here use this to clean up your face." Naruto said. She looked at them and took them with a small thanks.

"Wait a second. How long were you up? And come you didn't help?" Ino yelled. Naruto glared at her for a second before standing up.

"I was up from the time Sasuke got up. It didn't look like he needed my help so I didn't." Naruto replied. Ino just grumbled as she went over to pick lee up.

"Ten-Ten, wake Lee and let's go, there is no reason for us to remain here," Neji said coldly. She nodded and jumped down from the spot on the tree. She walked to Ino and smiled.

"I'll take it from here." She said. She grabbed Lee from Ino's grasped and started to shake him back and forth. "Snap out of it Lee!" She yelled. When his eyes opened she let him drop on his knees.

"NNN, Tenten, why are you here?" He asked.

"We came to save you" Tenten replied.

"Hey where did those oto-nin go?" Lee asked looking around.

"That Sasuke kid drove them off." She replied.

"I see" He said looking at Sasuke.

"Why did you break the plan and act alone? Plus you were all beaten up." Tenten scolded him.

"Sakura-san was in trouble and as a man…" Lee said.

'If he was alone lee would have never lost.' Tenten thought. "You are such an idiot." Tenten said.

"Can't argue with you there." Lee said.

"Hey, Lee-san!" shouted Sakura

"Yes, Sakura-san," said Lee.

"Thank you for helping me," she said sincerely. "I wouldn't have lasted that long without you."

"You are welcome Sakura-san," said Lee, "Sasuke-kun." Sasuke looked at Lee questioningly, "You truly live up to the Uchiha name. You were able to drive back those Oto-nin, while I lost horribly." Sasuke looked shocked at this information as Lee had handed him his own ass not but four days prior. "Sakura-san, the Lotus in Konoha blooms twice. Next time we meet, I promise I will be much stronger than I am now."

"Hey, Sakura, let me fix your hair," said Ino walking up to her former best friend.

Sakura looked Ino over, as if judging her intentions. Finding them genuine, she said goodbye to Lee and walked over to Ino. Lee left with his team quickly leaving the two teams alone. As Sakura had her hair fixed Naruto turned to Sasuke.

"Sasuke, I suggest you don't use that power again." Naruto said with a serious tone.

"And if I do?" Sasuke said smirking. Naruto just looked at him sending a message that he didn't get. Naruto turned back to Sakura who was talking to Ino while she was cutting her hair.

"After they are finished we'll wait until we have rested until we go to the tower." Naruto said.

"We only have one scroll. Orochimaru burned the one I had." Sasuke said.

"What the fuck do you mean he burn our scroll!" Naruto yelled out. Everyone looked at him while he glared at Sasuke.

In a different part of the forest

"I can't believe this. We've been out here for a day and we have found no one." Shido said. Katsu and Saeko ignored him as they looked ahead. 'They are still ignoring me.' He thought. Saeko and Katsu suddenly stopped making Shido bump into Saeko. He fell back hitting the ground and looked up at her seeing she didn't even budge. Saeko didn't even look at him as she stared at the Taki-nins that had just appeared.

"Hand over your scroll and we're let you go." The leader said as Shido stood up.

"Shall I take care of this?" Katsu asked Saeko. She shook her and looked at him.

"I'll do it. It'll be faster this way." She said looking back to the three nin.

"You think you could take us? Well just try." The one next to him said. Saeko started to walk towards them with her hand on her sword and pull it out a few inches. Each of the nin got into their stance. They saw her disappear and reappear right in the same spot pushing the sword back into the sheath. "What's just…argh." He said falling to pieces, his teammates joining him a second afterward.

"At least it was quick." Katsu said walking towards the bodies. After he got there he went into each their pouches until he found a heaven's scroll. "Lucky us. We got what we need." He said standing up.

"Then let us go. I don't feel like staying here any longer." Saeko said. He nodded and all three of them jumped into the trees heading for the tower.

A few days later

On the fifth day Naruto and his team found themselves standing with the group of the people who pass the test. Naruto was angry again. Why you might ask. Well it because again somebody showed him how much he sucks at seeing through genjutsu. He hated being proven wrong. And he had just been proven wrong not once, not twice but three times during the same battle. 'Damn mist nin. Now I have to pay Shisou for that bet we made.' Naruto thought. Naruto eyed the Jounins and various exam proctors as they appeared in the room. "Welcome and congratulations on passing the second exam," Anko said, and stepped back as Sandaime prepared to speak. All of the Genins turned to face the aged Hokage.

"Let me explain to you the true purpose of this test," Sandaime said.

"True purpose," Kiba asked.

Sandaime nodded and continued, "This exam, the Chuunin exam, is to show of a village's power to potential customers. If a village shows it has lots of talented and strong ninjas, then missions will increase for that village. Also, instead of killing each other, the ninja villages compete under these exams, keeping relations and allies, as well as showing off their power to enemies, keeping them from attacking. Likewise if a village's representatives, the Genins in this exam, show that it is weaker, missions will decrease and the threat of invasion is greater. Therefore it is very important that you take these exams very seriously.

"The next stage will be one on one fighting where daimyos and other important people will come to see you fight. The selection on who becomes Chuunin is made by several judges among those important people."

A Special Jounin then jumped in front of Sandaime, kneeling in front of him.

"Sandaime-sama, allow me to explain," the Special Jounin named Gekko Hayate requested before Sarutobi nodded to him. Thank you, sir." The man stood up, and turned around, revealing a man with dark hair running down the sides of his face, covered by a Konoha headbandana. He wore traditional Konoha shinobi garb. Everyone could tell he was sick from his looks. His eyes had some bags and he looked pale.

"_Koff Koff. _Good to meet you all. I'm Gekko Hayate. Before we start the exam, uhh…I have to ask you to do something for me." He met confused looks. "Uhh…you see…there are some preliminaries for the exam…and whether you proceed to the main exam is contingent on how well you manage in the preliminaries."

"Preliminaries!" Everyone asked out loud. "Why?" "That's not fair!" "Why can't we all just proceed?" "What's going on?"

"uhh…well…you see…It's not like the first two exams weren't difficult enough, but the truth is…there're still too many applicants to proceed directly to the third exam. _Koff._"

"Is there a reason all of us can't proceed?" Shisou asked.

"There is. Under the traditional rules of the third exam, we have to have preliminary exams to reduce the number of applicants who'll proceed if the final exam."

"That's not the answer to what was asked. What is?" Sasuke demanded impatiently.

"Hokage-sama said it himself. There will be a large number of honorable guests observing you applicants in the final exam. We can't have too many applicants slowing it down. Only the best of you will get past this stage, providing a fast, tight, and intense finale."

"I see…" Shisou said to himself, analyzing the situation.

"Uhh…so anyway, not that you all have somewhat of an idea as to what's going on…anyone who doesn't wish to participate in the preliminaries, please take one step forward, because the preliminaries for the third exam begins now!"

"WHAT!" "NOW!" "WHY NOW!" "…"

"Well, see ya later, everyone!" Kabuto gave a small salute, and started walking. Naruto stared at him weirdly but didn't really care.

"Let me see…you're Yakushi Kabuto of Konoha?" He checked his list and made a stroke with his pencil. "Okay. You can go. Feel free to watch the competition." He paused, before remembering something. "uhh…in case I forgot to add, _Koff Koff, _from here on out, you fight individually, not as team. From now on, you can make your own decisions without affecting your comrades. So… _Koff _does anyone else want to back out?"

Anko referred to her notepad for Kabuto's biography. "Wow. Talk about déjà vu. According to the data, he's already failed six times, and I believe each time reaching this same point before dropping out and observing the matches. I wonder what he could be thinking…"

The Hokage looked interested about this coincidence. "…Just what is his record?"

"Well, nothing major worth mentioning. He was an average student with average grades. He actually had to test three times to graduate. Since then, he's had two C-rank missions and 14 D-rank missions. There's no major achievements on record, and nothing else worth mentioning…except…"

"…Please continue."

"…Something happened before he even entered the academy." This caught the Hokage's attention. "Remember the tale about a young boy brought back from the battle at Kikyo pass years ago?"

"Yes…I remember. The story about a Jonin ninja of the medical squad took in an enemy child who survived the battle."

"And that boy is that child, correct?"

"If I'm not mistaken."

Sasuke watched Kabuto leave, before feeling the mark on his neck pulse, sending a wave of pain through his body. 'Damn! Another one. They're frequency is increasing. Ugh!'

Sakura noticed Sasuke grabbing his neck and almost instantly deduced the cause. 'It's still hurting him? Why…?'

Hayate decided the silence had lasted too long and spoke up. "_Koff_ So, uhh…is anyone else dropping out? Or can we continue with the exam?"

Sakura couldn't take it anymore. "S-Sasuke-kun…maybe you should quit too!"

Naruto stared at Sasuke. Even though they were teammates Naruto wouldn't say anything. It was his choice and all the repercussions would go to some one else.

"Ever since we encountered Orochimaru, you haven't been acting normally. It's got to do with that mark, I know it! It'll just keep getting worse if you don't get help! Please…" Sakura was crying now, trying to wipe them away.

"You're in no shape to fight, Sasuke-kun!"

"…Shut up!"

"Sasuke-kun, it's no use denying it! You've barely been able to contain the pain up till now!"

"I told you to-!"

"You're not giving me a choice! If you won't listen to reason…Then I'll tell all the proctors about the mark! Then you-!" Sakura tried to raise her arm to tell the proctors, but Sasuke grabbed her wrist before it rose a foot.

Sasuke gave her a serious stare, keeping her silent. "Shut up! Not a word to anyone about the mark!" Sakura stared at him, fresh tears forming in her emerald eyes.

"Why, Sasuke-kun…why do you always have to be so strong! I can't stand it, just standing here and watching you suffer!"

Sasuke let go of her wrist, while keeping his right arm on the mark. "It's my own decision. Don't concern yourself with my affairs! I must bear this burden alone." He paused, staring into her eyes. "Do you remember what I told you in the bell test?" He met a confused expression. "I am an avenger! This is no mere test for me. I don't even care if I achieve Chunin or not. I am only here to answer the question 'Am I strong?' I'm here to answer that question by testing myself against the strongest opponents available." Naruto and Sakura were staring, her tears drying. "Gaara…Lee…Neji…Shisou the best young ninja are around here for me to test myself against. I won't turn away from the path that leads to my goal…not for your sake, or anyone else's."

Naruto couldn't take it anymore. "Sasuke she only cares for you. Besides that mark will probably cause you to fall if you can't control it. You would…"

"Naruto, you're one of the ones I want to fight."

Naruto smirked at him without saying a word. Saeko and Shisou looked at the hold exchange with raised eye brows. 'What happen to him?' They both thought.

Meanwhile, the older ninja were discussing Orochimaru. "It's as we feared. The curse mark is gaining control." The Hokage observed.

Anko, whom also bore a similar mark, spoke to the Hokage. "Sir, we need to pull him out of the exam! Quarantine him and place him under an ANBU squad. We don't know what Orochimaru wants with him-"

"And do you really think he'll just allow you to pull him out of the exam?" A voice came from behind. They turned around to see Kakashi with what they assumed was a confident look on his face. "Remember, he's one of the last remaining members of the Uchiha clan."

Anko grew angry at his words. "Don't talk nonsense, Kakashi! You don't know what it's like! I'll stop him by force if I have to! If he makes any attempt to mold chakra, the mark will activate and spread throughout his body, infecting him and draining him of his strength. It's a forbidden art which will debilitate his body! It's a miracle he's lasted this long, bearing the pain up until now. Any normal person would be dead by now, Hokage-sama!"

"Sasuke isn't a normal person, Anko." Kakashi rebutted.

The Hokage was silent for a moment before speaking his mind. "I am also concerned about what Orochimaru said. For now, we shall allow him to proceed, though we will watch for any sign of activity in the curse mark."

"B-but Hokage-sama-!"

"You may relax, Anko. If there is any sign of the curse mark spreading, we shall take the necessary steps to restrain him. Ibiki."

Ibiki turned his head and met the Hokage's gaze. "Yes, Hokage-sama?"

"I want you to head to the ANBU headquarters and get three squads of ANBU's top strategists gathered and plan for a sweep of the entire fire country for Orochimaru."

"Hokage-sama, isn't that taking it to an extreme?"

"Orochimaru is Konoha's most wanted criminal. He's here for more than just Sasuke, I can assure you of that. We can't take any chances. Plan a search, and return to me before the exam ends. I need to know how long the search will last."

"I understand, sir. I'll have them get right on it." With that, Ibiki vanished using shunshin no jutsu.

Hayate decided that it was time to begin the exam. "_Koff koff _Well then….we shall now begin the preliminaries. These will consist of individual combat matches, as though this were real combat, though in tournament style." He paused, observing the myriad of emotions expressed on the applicant's faces. "There are a total of twenty combatants, and thus we shall hold ten matches, each one-on-one. Uhh…and the victors of each match will advance to the final exam. Remember, _koff_, this is all-out combat. Each pair of combatants will fight until one is either dead or unconscious, or forfeits the match. If an opponent is overpowering you, I advise you to immediately concede if you value your life. However, since we don't want a total blood-bath, there will be times in the matches when I conclude that there is a clear winner and interfere in the match to end it. But…don't always assume I'll come to the rescue."

"Open it." Anko spoke into her headset. Next to the giant hands, a curtain ascended, revealing a blank screen.

"From here on out, your fate is held on that electronic scoreboard. To decide the match-ups, the scoreboard will randomly display the names of two combatants, _koff_. So, uhh…not to send you to the butcher early or anything, but we'll be announcing the first two names now."

The crowd in the tower was silent as they awaited the screen's judgement. Hearts raced, and for minutes it seemed as though it would never end, until the screen lit up:

Uchiha Sasuke

Vs.

Akado Yoroi

'Well well, first blood, huh?' Sasuke thought.

'Couldn't ask for more.' Yoroi thought.

'Sasuke-kun? Already? There's no way he can win in this state!'

'Sasuke…'

Everyone was staring at Sasuke; from his reputation, they were in for a good fight.

"Would the combatants whose names have been selected by the board please come forward now." Sasuke and Yoroi stepped forward, and turned to face each other, less than a meter away. "Akado Yoroi and Uchiha Sasuke…_koff_ you two have been selected to compete in the first round of the preliminaries. Are there any objections?" He asked.

"I'm good." "None whatsoever."

For a few seconds, the two of them engaged in a staring contest, seeing which would break first, leaving everyone else to their thoughts.

'The only thing I can do now…is just watch the match and pray for the best. Sasuke-kun…'

'You better not lose now if you wanna fight me later! I expect to see you in the finals, Sasuke!'

'Something's wrong with him…'

'The curse mark…may be a bit of a problem…'

'Good luck, Uchiha!'

'I expect to be entertained, Sasuke.'

'…'

'Good match-up. This'll be fun.'

Sasuke flinched, feeling the sting of the mark. 'Ow! The pains not slowing down…if this keeps up…'

Yoroi was smirking under his mask. 'Oh, look. The little boy's in pain. This'll be over fast.'

Hayate had decided the staring contest had lasted long enough and raised his hand. "_Koff _

Uhh…It's time for the first match of the preliminaries to commence. Everyone other than the two combatants should move to the upper gallery now."

Everyone slowly made their way up the stairs, where they finally got the chance to talk with their friends and teachers. Before going up, Kakashi had a little talk with Sasuke.

"Sasuke. There's something you need to know."

"…"

"Don't use the Sharingan."

Sasuke's eyes widened, but he quickly regained his cool. "Howd'ya know?"

"If the curse mark on your neck begins to run rampant, the consequences will be deadly, changing your life forever." This received a nod from Sasuke. "If they see any sign of that, the match will be suspended and you'll be disqualified. Don't lose control." With that, Kakashi walked up to join Naruto and Sakura, leaving a shocked Sasuke.

Suspended? Not an option. He'd have to remain in complete control. Sasuke gripped his neck, where the mark was. 'The mark appears to respond to my chakra. If I use chakra carelessly, then the mark will consume me, calling upon and expending all the power I have left.' He released his neck, remembering the scene in the forest. 'So, for this match, not only is the Sharingan out, but so is almost every fire technique I know, and I'll have to use chakra sparingly even for normal arts! Now, what to do, what to do…?'

Kabuto was watching the scene, observing what was about to come. 'Heh. Of all the opponents you had to get, Yoroi is the worst one for you.' All Konoha applicants were on the right side of the arena, with only the sand ninja on the left. Everyone was preparing for the upcoming fight, watching with the utmost attention.

Kakashi had returned to his other students, but though he wanted to question Naruto about his missing sword and clothing, he decided it best to wait until Sasuke's match was done. 'Sasuke…you better not lose…because I'm going to beat you' Naruto was nearly falling off the railing he was so far off, trying to get the best view possible.

"All right. Round one: Uchiha Sasuke vs. Akado Yoroi, begin!"

The words barely left Hayate's lips when Yoroi formed a hand-seal. "Shall I start?"

"Heh. Confident, aren't you?"

Yoroi went through a few more seals before his right hand began glowing blue. He hunched over, forming a smaller target, while slipping his hand into his shuriken pouch. Sasuke saw this and pulled out a kunai just as Yoroi threw a trio of shuriken at him. Sasuke loaded his arm for a strike, and swung, parrying the shuriken and sending them back at Yoroi, who slipped to the left. Sasuke groaned, the curse on his neck throbbing. He couldn't stay standing, and fell on his right side. Yoroi took advantage of Sasuke's position and jumped into the air, and punched downward at Sasuke. Sasuke saw this, and rolled to the side, as Yoroi buried his fist into the tile, loading his left arm for another strike, but he never got the chance. Sasuke plunged his Kunai into the ground, stabilizing himself, and kicked Yoroi's feet out from under him. He grabbed Yoroi's arm, planning his fall, and planted his left leg over his neck and his right around his arm. His arms had a firm grip on his right arm, securing him in an arm-bar. "It's over!"

Suddenly, Yoroi gripped Sasuke's shirt with his right arm, hand still glowing. Sasuke felt the effects immediately. 'What the? My strength's disappearing. What's happening?' Sasuke lost the strength to maintain his grip, and Yoroi's arm slipped out of the arm-bar. He formed a fist, and slammed it into Sasuke, knocking Sasuke flat and releasing himself. He flipped around, and as Sasuke tried to get up, he snatched his head, blocking his eyes. 'Where's all my strength? It's disappearing!' Yoroi slammed his head into the ground, stapling his legs to the ground with his left arm. Yoroi chuckled evilly as Sasuke tried to remove his arm from his face, but could only drop lifelessly to the ground.

'Sasuke…' Naruto thought.

"You…You're…absorbing my chakra…" Sasuke managed to choke out

"Heh. So, you finally figured it out, eh? Slower than I thought."

Kabuto looked slightly concerned, but that only covered up his true feelings. 'Heh. Of all the people you had to fight, it had to be him. Chakra Kyuin Jutsu; Yoroi's cruel ability to absorb another's chakra is quite a gift. It's brilliant. All Yoroi must do is press the palm of his hand against an opponent's body, and he may begin devouring their mental and physical energies. And once your chakra has been devoured, Sasuke, your only option will be to summon the power of the curse mark! I can't wait to see you engorge yourself in all that power! If you resist…well, you'll soon be six feet under.'

Sasuke was running low on Chakra. If he didn't do something now, he'd lose for sure and lose the strength to resist the curse seal! "Oh…you…" Sasuke summoned all the strength that he could. "Son of a bitch!" Sasuke used his leg to shove off Yoroi's arm and kicked him across the room. He managed to stand up shakily, gasping for breath.

"Heh heh. It's almost impossible to believe that a rat like you had any strength left to oppose me." Yoroi performed the jutsu again, preparing for another strike.

'That was too close. If he makes contact again, I won't be able to pull off another stunt like that, and I'll lose the match for sure, either by losing or suspension.' Sasuke thought, still breathing heavily. 'His goal is to keep me within his reach…I've got one last ace up my sleeve…but how can I?'

Gaara was looking at Sasuke with disgust. "Uchiha Sasuke…is this your limit? Pathetic'

"Ha and I thought Sasuke was strong." Naruto yelled out.

"Yeah right. I bet Sakura could do better than that." Shisou yelled out.

"No that oto-nin with the broken arms could do better." Naruto yelled.

'Naruto, Shisou…I'm going to kick their asses' He thought. 'Wait! I got it. That move from earlier!'

"Well, you sure have the worst timing for letting your mind wander! Time to finish you off!" Yoroi lunged at Sasuke, preparing to finish him off.

'So this is the end.' Hayate thought.

'Sasuke is this all you-Wait, that's my-!' Lee's thoughts were cut off as Sasuke fell back on his right hand and bashed his left foot into Yoroi's jaw, sending him flying into the air. He finished spinning to the right, landing on both hands, and pushing off with his arms. As Yoroi rose upward, Sasuke appeared right behind him.

"After this, I'll limit it to my own skills, but this battle is over!" Sasuke used his index and middle finger of his left hand to press a pressure point on Yoroi's back, making him less resistant "Eat this! Kage buyo!" But before Sasuke could continue, his neck throbbed and his face hardened. Blood flowed from his mouth into the air. 'Oh no. Not now…' The mark on his neck began to spread, the flame-like black lines enveloping his body. His muscles clenched, and he began shuddering.

"Sasuke…you better not lose. Not now…" Naruto said to himself.

Sasuke tried to calm himself. 'He's at his limit. He can't keep control.' Kakashi thought.

'I won't stand by here…and let this damn thing…CONSUME ME!' With sheer willpower, Sasuke secluded the power of the curse seal with his remaining strength, and forced it back into its source. With the power, the flame-like marks receded back into the seal. When the marks had receded, he smirked, having regained his control. "Let's finish this!"

Anko was on the ground. She had a seal similar to his, and to be able to control it with his level of experience…was incredible. 'How! He should be dead by now! How can he force it to recede with his level of experience!'

"From here on out, it's all original!" Sasuke pushed Yoroi with his left hand, pushing to the right and causing Yoroi to spin to the left. Sasuke readied his left for a roundhouse kick to meet his spinning target, but Yoroi blocked the kick with his arm. "You never learn, do you?" But Sasuke used the rebounding force from his leg connecting with him to remove his leg and spin to his left, loading his left arm and delivering a devastating back-fist to his face, followed by a hard punch into his chest, and while keeping his rotation, Sasuke delivered the finishing heel-drop just as Yoroi hit the ground, cracking the hard tile. "SHISHI RENDAN!" Blood dripped out from under Yoroi's mask as he lost consciousness. Sasuke skidded to a halt about two meters away on his face. Hayate quickly observed the scene, and quickly checked Yoroi, but already knowing he lost consciousness. He looked over at Sasuke, and smiled slightly when Sasuke managed to slowly kneel, wiping some blood off his face and breathing heavily.

"I'm halting this match before it goes any further. Uchiha Sasuke is the clear winner, and the champion of the first match of the preliminaries, and shall advance to the third exam!"

"Well done. You did it!" Kakashi said as he appeared behind Sasuke, supporting his back with his knee. 'Those techniques he used up to the Shishi Rendan were undoubtedly from Gai's fighting style. He must have learned it when he sparred with Lee.'

The crowd –with the exclusion of a select few- was awed by this agile technique. Lee was especially impressed, though he kept the figure of a determined statue. 'That move…he copied it in one encounter. That move requires a high level of body strength gained from years of intense training.'

Lee's sensei, Gai, was also impressed. 'The Lotus isn't something that can simply be copied, even with the Sharingan. And then there's the final move. What a show-off. Are you teaching your students to be punks or something, Kakashi?'

'Last years top rookie was Neji, and it seems like this year it'll be either Uchiha Sasuke or the blond kid. If everyone fought each other as themselves, who would win?' Tenten asked herself.

'I could have done better' Naruto said in his head.

'To come into full bloom with your Sharingan at such a young age…he's just like you, Obito.' Kakashi thought to himself. 'I see why people say "Beware the blood of Uchiha!"'

'Amazing! He actually suppressed the curse seal with his own squandering strength! Even I couldn't do that! And I was trained by…I don't even want to think about him!' Anko thought, anger burning in her eyes.

Gaara stood as still as a statue, staring at Sasuke. Kankuro looked nervous. 'Not this again.'

"Well, that was unexpected. I thought he was gonna lose." Katsu said.

"Not likely. He is a Uchiha after all." Shido said.

"Don't think that blood and names make the skill." Saeko said.

"OOOOOOOOOH! SASUKE-KUN LOOKED SO COOL!" Ino yelled, eyes glowing.

'If they're all like this, we're doomed.' Shikamaru thought.

"I'm starving! I wanna go back to the buffet!" Choji whined.

"Hn he got lucky"

"You got that right" Kiba said.

Kabuto wore a hidden smirk. 'He's stronger than I thought.'

The medics put Yoroi on a stretcher and began carrying him out. The head medic walked over to Sasuke. "Uchiha Sasuke, we must escort you, too, and put you under the care of the medical squad for the best possible treatment"

Kakashi put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder. "It's alright. I'll take care of him." He kneeled down by Sasuke and whispered so only he could hear. "You'll have to come with me. Don't worry. I'll seal that curse mark." Kakashi said.

"Um we will start the next match" Hayate said.

"Wait until after the prelims, I want to watch the other matches." Sasuke said.

"No." Kakashi said. Sasuke gave him an angry look be he ignored it. "Don't get so mad. If we don't take care of that now, it will be too late. I won't listen to your selfishness anymore." Kakashi said. Everyone looked at the board as Sasuke and Kakashi disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Abumi Zaku

Vs.

Busujima Saeko

"It seems like it's my turn" Saeko said.

"It seems like I'm fighting her." Zaku said with a leer.

She disappeared and reappeared in the middle of the area as Zaku walked down with his arms wrapped up.

"It's the oto-nin that Sasuke beat up." Sakura said.

"He's actually fighting like that." Kiba said.

"Hn, he can't win." Neji said.

After he was there they stared at each other. "Now we will begin the second match" Hayate said.

"Maybe you should just give up. That way I won't damage your beauty face." Zaku said.

"…" Hayate took this as a sign to began.

"Alright second match between Abumi Zaku and Busujima Saeko. Begin." He said.

"Forfeit." She said.

"Heh… this one moves a little bit" Zaku said moving his left arm. "And one arm is enough against you." He said.

"GO SAEKO-CHAN! KICK HIS ASS!!!" Naruto cheered. Everyone was looking at him weirdly except for Shisou who had a sly smirk on his face.

"What the hell Naruto? Why are you cheering for her? You just met her a few days ago." Sakura said though Naruto couldn't hear her.

Saeko had a light blush on her face as Naruto cheered for her. She glanced back at him a little distracted. Zaku took this as a sign to attack and lunged at her with his fist reeled back. He soon for this to be a mistake when she grabbed his fist and threw him to the other side of area. "WOO HOO. GO SAEKO-CHAN!!! !!!" Naruto cheered.

'Damn Naruto is loud.' Everyone on t the balcony thought. Naruto stopped cheering feeling killing intent coming from Shido who was with Katsu to the right of them. He ignored it and turned to Shisou.

"What?" He asked.

"What the hell do you think your doing? Cheer for her you idiot." Naruto said.

"But…" He started.

"No but, cheer or I'll burn your manga collection." Naruto said in a dark tone. Shisou paled before turning to the match. Kurenai stared at him with a smirk thinking he wasn't going to do it.

"GO SAEKO-SAN!!! YOU CAN DO IT." Shisou yelled causing Kurenai to face fault.

"SAEKO-CHAN!!! SAEKO-CHAN!!!" Naruto cheered. Saeko blushed harder hearing Shisou cheering with Naruto.

"Take this. Zankuha!" He yelled with his arm pointing towards her. Sound waves shot out of his hands towards her. Saeko smirked and drew her sword faster than most people could see, cutting the attack in half. Zaku looked shocked see that happen. Naruto stopped cheering and stared at the katana that he now recognized as an O-katana. It was at least 56 inches overall. The hilt was a black wrapped in golden nylon cord. The guard was gold with a black gem on it. The blade is about 45 inches long and a white color with yellow along the edge of the making it a yellow color glow. Naruto felt the presence that the blade let out and couldn't how in his awe expression.

Katsu stared at Naruto expression and smirked. 'It seems like he can sense it.' He thought. 'I guess she did pick the right target this time.' He thought watching the fight.

Saeko started to walk towards him. He started to back away. 'Damn it she cut through it like butter.' He thought. 'I can't fail anymore.' Zaku thought bring out his other hand.

"He can use his other hand." Kiba said surprised.

"Die! Zankukyokuha!" He yelled. A large sound wave came from his hand heading for Saeko. She looked at it as it came towards her.

"SAEKO-CHAN LOOK OUT" Naruto yelled. The loud boom of impact was heard but because of the attack dust was kicked up so nobody could see anything. Naruto and Shisou was quiet as the dust cleared. Both of them saw the movement heading for Zaku though he couldn't.

"Look I blew her away." He said before laughing. He let out a loud ear piercing scream as both of his forearms were sliced from his body. Blood sprayed from his wounds in gallons. Somehow she didn't get a drop of blood on her.

"You could never defeat me." Saeko said before hitting him with the back of the hilt in his chin.

"SAEKO-Chan!!! You're so great." Naruto yelled making her blush again.

'I'm going to kill him' Shido thought angrily clutching his fist tightly.

'She's blushing again. Though I could see why. Nobody has ever cheered for her.' Katsu thought. He looked to his side seeing Shido face red with anger. 'He, he, he, He even makes Shido angry. I like him.' He thought with a smile.

"The winner of the match is Busujima Saeko." He said. Saeko took out a cloth and wiped her sword before sheathing it. She started walking silently towards the balcony. Medics hurried out to pick up Zaku.

"Hey Naruto." Shisou called.

"Yeah?" Naruto asked.

"You must have one major crush on her to cheer that loud." Shisou said with a sly smirk. At that moment Naruto froze. If they would have been looking at Saeko they would have also seen her stop momentarily with a blush on her face.

"Um…w-what makes you t-think that?" Naruto asked with a blush his face.

"Well your stuttering for one and blushing." Shisou said in a matter of fact tone. Naruto looked around for a distraction and found one when he saw the black screen change.

"Hey look they're picking the next two fighters." Naruto said pointing. Everyone who was listening turned to the screen and seen the two fighters names. Shisou sent Naruto a look that said this isn't over and Naruto groaned. Saeko took this distraction and used her speed to get back to her team unnoticed.

Aburame Shino

vs.

Maki Durikaki

Shino walked down slowly as another boy waited in the arena for him. The boy had slightly yellow eyes with long black hair tied up in a ponytail. He had on baggy blue pants with lightning bolts going up each side with bandages holding his left pant leg, and a blue long sleeved shirt with rain drop printed on it, and a mist hitai-ate tied around his forehead.

The boy looked slightly interested, "Bug user eh? Interesting." Shino just looked steadily on as the boy said curtly, "Durikaki." He murmured.

"Shino." He said. After the introductions

"Begin!" Hayate said calmly.

Quickly they jumped apart, Durikaki drew kunai and tossed it at him. Shino lean to the side dodging them. Bugs started to come from out of his clone and head towards Durikaki. He jumped back and made some hand seals. "Raibakufuu!" Durikaki said. Immediately the surroundings exploded into a huge tornado of lightning flying towards Shino. Shino appeared behind Durikaki after the blast.

"Bug clone." he said simply. He threw a punch at Durikaki as he turned catching him in his chin. Durikaki flew back but flipped and landed on his feet with a frown.

"Just what I wanted you to do." Durikaki said smirking. Suddenly a water clone jumped out of the floor with a dagger of lightning in its hand towards Shino's back. It shoved the dagger into Shino, and everyone was surprised when blood poured out of the wound. Shino coughed out blood, and his eyes were widened slightly looking back at the clone.

"How?" He said out of gritted teeth.

Durikaki's smirk widened, "My bloodline allows me to control water and lightning, and by combining the two it creates an invincible weapon. Because of your bugs I knew how to beat you. Remember when made the Lightning blast? That jutsus purpose is swallowing a sample of chakra from the enemy into the user, and with my bloodline I made a _water_ clone and making the water clone produce a _lightning_ attack the dagger became invincible. I knew that wouldn't help because of your bugs so I transferred your chakra sample into the dagger. In which your bugs know of your chakra in there so they assumed it wasn't a threat. You were a great opponent Shino." He said. His clone increased the lightning output in the blade shocking him.

Not being able to handle the pain he fainted. Medics rushed out and took Shino away as Hayate exclaimed, "Winner: Maki Durikaki!" Acknowledging the win with a nod he jumped back up to his two teammates who congratulated him on a good win and that he would be a good Chuunin.

Shisou's eyes narrowed. 'By their talking I can all assume Durikaki is the leader of Team Mist.' A smirk crossed his face. 'It would be...interesting to fight Durikaki. But Katsu would also be good' He thought eyeing both of them. Hearing the clicking of the board he turned, and his eyes narrowed as the names read.

Yamanaka Ino

Vs.

Haruno Sakura

Naruto groaned loudly. Shisou smiled. "Come on. Maybe it will be entertaining." He said. As the two girls walked down the nervously every person that knew them save the Jounin stared at him and stared. Feeling a little bit self conscious and feeling what he said was dumb he put his head down in shame.

"It's okay Aniki. Everyone says something stupid at one time." Naruto said patting his brother on the shoulder.

"Yeah I know." He said letting his head up. He looked at his brother's clothing again and grabbed his brother's hand. "Come with me. We need to talk in private." He said pulling his brother towards the bathroom.

"Hey!! Wait!" Naruto said. He turned slightly and saw Katsu whispering in Saeko's ear while she glanced at him with a light in her eyes and a smirk on her face. He lost sight of her as he was pulled around the corner. Naruto turned towards his brother as he was pulled into the bathroom. The door closed behind as he brother let go of his arm. He turned to him with a raised eyebrow.

"So what happened to you that got you shirt all torn up?" Shisou asked. Naruto frowned and leaned on the door.

"I got into a fight with Orochimaru in the forest." Naruto said. Shisou eyes widened before narrowing in a glare.

"I see. So he was disguised as the kusa-nin right?" He asked. Naruto nodded as he looked into his brother's eyes. "And where were your teammates?" He asked in a big brother tone.

"They were frozen and of no use so I created shadow clones and got them out of the area." Naruto said. Shisou eyes widened before narrowing again. This time instead of his blue with black eyes there was red eyes with three tomoe marks around his pupil. His killing intent flaring around the room though now directed at Naruto. Naruto felt it and simple shrugged it off though it still affected him.

"So you fought him alone?!" It was more of a statement than a question.

"Yes. Having them there would have been more dangerous than fighting him alone." Naruto said.

"Either way with your limiter on you would have stood no chance against a sanin!" Shisou uncharacteristically yelled.

"And what would you have me do? Run only to be chased down. As you said he's a Sannin. I would have had no chance to escape." Naruto yelled back. "Beside if it came do to it I could have used the Kyuubi chakra to alert you or something."

The two brothers glared at each other each with cold eyes. Shisou knew Naruto was right but couldn't stand the thought that he would do something so stupid. After a few seconds Shisou deactivated his Sharingan and back down. "Your right for once." Shisou said. He went over to the stall and opened it and went in. Naruto panted lightly as he slid down the wall.

'Even after all this time, his killing intent is still affects me.' Naruto thought as heard his brother flush the toilet. He brother walked out the stall and went to the sink. He turned on the water and started to wash his hands with soap as he looked in the mirror. Naruto looked into the mirror at his brother's reflection and saw the hint of insanity in his eyes but that was always there.

"Sorry I got out of control there." He said turning off the water. Naruto waved it off.

"It's alright. If you did something that stupid I would be pissed too." Naruto said.

"But I would never do anything that stupid." Shisou said.

"Hn. It'll happen soon." Naruto said. He looked up at the ceiling as his face took an emotionless expression. "Do you still want to do it?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah." Shisou said darkly. "And I take it your still against the idea?" He asked looking back at the mirror.

"I just don't want to betray the old man." Naruto said.

"He would understand. After all this village has only given us crap for things where not responsible for. These demons we have, Haigara, Itachi. They look for a scapegoat and the first one's they see is you and me. They deserve to die for it." Shisou said with an evil grin. He stared at Naruto through the mirror and smirked. "Don't you agree, Otouto?" He asked.

"I'm not all for that revenge shit. Once I get out I don't really want to return." Naruto said looking at him. Shisou only smirked harder.

"You didn't answer the question." He said.

"I know. But let's get off this for now." Naruto said smiling.

"Fine with me but tell me what happened to your katana." He said the smirk leaving his face.

"Orochimaru had a sword that cut straight through it. I was kind of in a hurry so I left it." Naruto said sheepishly.

"Hn, take this." He said taking off his nodachi and throwing it towards Naruto. Naruto caught it out of the air and held it. "It is yours after all."

"I thought you wanted to learn Kenjutsu." Naruto said with a smirk.

"Hn, that whole swordsmen thing is not for me. You're samurai freak." Shisou said.

"You just suck at it." Naruto said.

"As you do for genjutsu." Shisou replied. Naruto shrugged as he stood up.

"So? I find people who use genjutsu can't really fight face to face." Naruto said.

"But genjutsu works doesn't it?" He asked.

"I guess" Naruto said strapping the nodachi to his back. "Let's go back the battle is probably over by now." Naruto said. He opened the door and led the way back to the area. On the way Shisou grabbed his head in a headlock and started ruffling his hair. Naruto broke out of the hold and fixed his hair and chased after his brother who ran down the hall. When Naruto caught up he saw one thing. The girl oto-nin was on the ground while Shikamaru was smirking. He looked at the side and saw that both Ino and Sakura were knocked out cold. "What just happened?" Naruto asked. Everyone looked at him and Kakashi who had arrived at the beginning of the girls fight filled them in.

"I see." Shisou said as Shikamaru was declared the winner. Shikamaru started to walk back as the medics came.

"I didn't think we were talking for that long." Naruto said as the next two names appeared on the black board.

Kinuta Dosu

Vs.

Akimichi Chouji

"Chouji fight now." Naruto said.

'Hn, I was hoping to fight last. At any rate I have to win so I can fight Sasuke-kun in the finals…Orochimaru-sama…I will not fulfill your wishes…I now realize what your plans were…The way you went ahead to find Sasuke before we did and implanting him with your curse instead of killing him… In other words we were your "guinea pigs" to see what Sasuke-kun's real strength really is, during these trails…What you really wanted life but Sasuke-kun himself.' Dosu thought. "I'm really being taken lightly" He said jumping down to face Chouji.

"Um Well than match begin." Hayate said.

"You can do it." Shikamaru cheered.

"Fat-ass." Ino said who had woken up a few minutes ago.

"Those guy better watch out! I'll win this match quickly and tear them up." Chouji said angrily.

"Focus Chouji" Naruto yelled. Shisou looked at him in surprise but didn't say anything.

"Well than…I guess I'll skip the playing and end this quickly. Fatty." Dosu said. Chouji got angrier.

'You mummy wrapped freak. I already know what your weak points are from the last battle. You release destructive sound wave from the holes in your arm.' Chouji thought.

"**Baika no Jutsu" he said making a seal.** His body ballooned out to an incredible size. "Nikudan Sensha!" Chouji's limbs and head receded into the into his body as jets of steam streamed out from where each appendage disappeared to. He then began to spin at a very rapid velocity. "I'm not fat!! I'm pleasantly plup!!!" Chouji yelled racing off towards Dosu who dodged.

"Alright Chouji!! Crush him!!!" Ino cheered.

'His attacks can damage his opponent even with touching them. But that's only if their ears were exposed. How will he use his sound attack when his opponent's head is buried under all that flesh and is using ear plugs on top of that. Plus Chouji is a constantly spinning meatball.' Shikamaru thought.

Dosu kept dodging Chouji until his back came against the wall. He waited until Chouji was close to jump out the way. Chouji hit the wall cracking it as he spun. 'Here we go. To get out of there you will have to spin in the opposite direction. Which means you have to stop once.' Dosu thought. 'That's where I'll attack.' He thought as Chouji stopped spinning. He went down hitting his claw into Chouji's back.

"It's no use I have my ear plugs." Chouji said smugly.

"You idiot the body is made up of 70% of water!! Sound passes through water!!" Naruto yelled. Everyone looked at him surprised that he knew that. Even Shisou looked on surprise.

"Hn, what he said." Dosu said flicking his amplifier.

"WWAOWH!!!" Chouji yelled as sound waves hit him. The wall that he was in cracked and he deflated falling to the ground. He laid there unconscious as steam came from his body.

"Winner Dosu Kinuta!" Hayate said.

'Orochimaru-sama…no Orochimaru! I'll teach that I'm no guinea pig.' Dosu thought with his fist shaking.

Naruto watched with a emotionless face as Chouji was checked upon by medics.

"Sheesh and his opponent was even trying." Shikamaru said.

"Oh well he lost but I'll at least take him to eat some steaks." Asuma said. Ino shook her head as the medics took him away. The board started again stopping on two names.

Osamu Shido

Vs.

Uzumaki Naruto

Naruto narrowed his eyes looking over to Shido who had an evil smirk on his face. Shisou grabbed his shoulder and leaned to his ear. "Don't lose control" He whispered. Naruto nodded as Shido quickly jumped over the railing. Naruto saw Saeko and Katsu look at him before turning ahead. Naruto smirked as he jumped over the railing.

'Show me how strong you are.' Saeko thought.

'Naruto don't show too much of your skills.' Shisou thought.

'Lets see if he worthy to be Saeko's target and mine.' Katsu thought with a sadistic smirk.

'Naruto you will do fine.' Kakashi thought.

'I hope you win Naruto' Sakura thought.

'I don't care if he's your brother. I still think he's weak.' Kiba thought.

'So that's Uzumaki Naruto.' Durikaki thought.

'I'm going to kill you right now trash.' Shido thought.

Zankuha: Decapitating Air Wave

Kage Buyo: Shadow leaf dance

Omote Renge: Front Lotus

Nikudan Sensha: Human Bullet Tank

Baika no Jutsu: Multi-Size Technique

Kagemane no jutsu: Shadow Possession Technique

Shintenshin no Jutsu: Mind Body Switch Technique

Zankukyokuha: Extreme Decapitating Air Waves

Katon: Hosenka no Jutsu- Fire release: Mythical Fire Phoenix

Chakra Kyuin jutsu: Chakra Absorption Technique

Shishi Rendan: Lion combo

Raibakufuu: Lighting blast

Konoha Daisenpu: Lead great whirlwind


	5. Naruto's fight

Naruto: the moon blade 

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"**Demon/Huge Summoning/Inner Sakura talking"**

'_Flash Back'_

* * *

Chapter 5

Naruto stared at Shido with an emotionless face as Shido glared. "I'm going to kill you" Shido said angrily. Naruto raised and eyebrow at him and smirked.

"Then bring it." Naruto said.

"Okay…_Koff _the seventh match between Osamu Shido and Uzumaki Naruto. Begin!" He said. They both jumped back from each other. Naruto quickly removed the nodachi from his back and held it horizontally in front of him his left hand on the scabbard and his right on the hilt. Shido looked at him as he drew a scroll. He bit his right thumb hard enough draw blood while unraveling it with is other hand. Naruto just quickly removed the nodachi from the scabbard and tossed it to the side. He lifted it up and rested the blunt edge of the blade on his right shoulder. Shido wiped his blood over the kanji on the scroll and in a puff of smoke a katana appeared. He grabbed it and quickly pulled out the katana slanting it towards Naruto.

"It seems like he's using it." Katsu said.

"Using what?" Shisou asked.

"That katana is supposed to be the best one that he has. At least that is what he says." Katsu replied.

"Why is that?" Sakura asked.

"Don't know. He never really told me." Katsu said.

Naruto took a look at the katana. The hilt that is 10 inches long is wrapped in black leather. The tsuba is black and circular. The blade of the katana is about 35 inches. Naruto stared at it knowing he seen a katana like it before. "You like. This sword was made by Masamune Kenshin." Shido said smugly. 'With this and me defeating you, Saeko will be mine.' He thought with a smirk.

"Masamune Kenshin!" Shisou said in surprise.

"Do you recognize the name?" Kurenai asked.

"Yeah. Naruto has a whole lot of books on famous katana. And at the top of the list are the swords that he made." Shisou explained.

"Hn, so that sword is suppose to be great or something?" Asuma asked.

"Who cares? A sword is just a sword. They aren't so great." Kiba said. Everyone turned back to the field as Shido started talking again.

Naruto simply stared at him. "What's wrong? Don't know who he is? How about I…"

"Masamune Kenshin was a sword's smith who made seven swords in his life time. Each which was said to be able to cut through any object and was indestructible." Naruto interrupted with the calm tone. 'They also are said to have a soul of their own… No…your katana isn't made from him. If any katana was made from him it was hers.' Naruto thought taking a quick glance at Saeko.

"I see. So trash like you knows a little history. Hn, you should realize now that with this Masamune katana, I'm nearly impossible to defeat. So just stay still and die." Shido snarled.

"If that sword is really is made by Masamune than come and fight me." Naruto said tonelessly.

"Um…could you two start sometime today?" Hayate said annoyed with all the talking.

"Yeah! Stop talking and kick his ass Naruto!" Sakura cheered.

"Alright." Naruto said as Shido disappeared.

"He disappeared!" Ino yelled.

"No he just fast." Asuma said following his movements.

'He is still slow.' Shisou thought as he watch him approached Naruto from behind. Naruto quickly turned around blocking Shido's horizontally swung. Naruto pushed him back and lunged at him with an over head swing. Shido barely sidestepped the swing and countered with another horizontally swing towards Naruto's chest.

Naruto ducked under the swing and tried to sweep Shido's legs from under him. Shido jumped back dodging the sweep and drew two kunai. He tossed them at Naruto only to have them cut in half by his nodachi. Shido landed gazing at him with a calculating look while Naruto rested the blunt edge of his katana on shoulder again. "Your trash, but I have to say nice re…" Shido started but Naruto didn't give him a chance to finish. Naruto dashed at him griping the hilt of his nodachi with both hands ready for another overhead swing. Not expecting it Shido could only raise his sword horizontally to block. Their swords collided with a loud clang. The ground under Shido's feet cracked as his katana shook in his arms. Naruto raised an eyebrow before jumping back a few times.

Shido panted as he felt his arms shake. 'If this was a different sword…It would have broken under the force of his attack.' He thought glaring at Naruto.

'Whoa. Now this is interesting.' Hayate thought no longer standing lazily. 'His form is good even though it leaves too many opens, nice foot work and power, though he could use a few pointers.'

"That katana is quite sturdy." Naruto said with a smirk.

"What…did you expect from a blade made by Masamune?" He asked panting a little.

"Hn." Naruto replied. Shido charged at him and swung his blade horizontally. Naruto blocked it and pushed Shido back. Before Shido could regain his footing Naruto came at him with a diagonal swing upward. Shido managed to block it but flew back from the force behind it. Shido landed and slid back as Naruto charged at him. Naruto jumped toward him raising his sword overhead. Shido jumped to the side barely dodging the attack. Naruto sword cut the ground as Shido landed and charged at him. Naruto raised his sword up as Shido swung his katana horizontally. Naruto disappeared as Shido's sword passed his position.

"Where did he…?" He started before feeling a weight on his katana. Shido turned to look at his katana just to see Naruto standing on it with a smirk on his face. He didn't have time to react as Naruto did a back flip off the sword hitting Shido's chin in the process. Shido fell back as Naruto landed on the ground. Shido hit the ground hard and rolled away from Naruto trying to gain some distance. Shisou got back up and charged towards Naruto his sword positioned to stab. Naruto started to back up as Shido came in range and started to thrust his sword at him multiple times. Naruto blocked each stab with the broad side of his nodachi. Naruto watched carefully as Shido attacks started to come faster.

'Shit' Naruto thought as his katana went through his defense and cut his shoulder. Naruto blocked the next stab and swung his nodachi diagonally upward. Shido dodged barely by jumping back. He didn't get a break as Naruto charged toward him jumping up. He jumped to the side dodging the attack and quickly jumped at Naruto. Naruto blocked his next swing before pushing him off him. They started to trade attacks. The sounds of metal clashing and sparks fill the area.

"Whoa! Who would have thought Naruto was so good with Kenjutsu." Ino said.

"Good Job Naruto!" Sakura yelled.

'How did he get so good? I didn't train him in Kenjutsu.' Kakashi thought narrowing his eyes.

"He has a weird style." Saeko said out loud. Shisou looked at her with a smirk.

"I agree with you there. It's too bad Naruto is not being serious." Shisou said.

"He's not?" Sakura asked.

"Nope. From my knowledge, Naruto uses three or four styles that he knows. One with the Nodachi, one with a katana, another one that works for two katana, and the other I don't really want to talk about. I've seen the one for the Nodachi because that was the one he tried to teach me and that style is not it." Shisou explained.

"Wait so what is that style he's using now." Kurenai asked.

"I have no idea. I'll ask once he gets up here." Shisou said. Kurenai face faulted but she regained her composer as Shido flipped in the air from a punch from Naruto. Shido landed on his feet and wiped the blood off his chin as he glared at Naruto.

'He's almost as strong as Saeko when it comes to Kenjutsu. By the way he looks he doesn't have any real jutsu, so I'll beat him there.' Shido thought smirking. He stabbed his katana into the ground and quickly did some hand seals. Naruto glared at him before charging chakra into his nodachi. "Tsuki haretsu" He said with his right arm outstretched and his hand open. A white chakra ball appeared in his hand and shot off towards Naruto at a high speed.

Naruto eyes widened at the speed and brought his sword downward releasing the chakra. "Sonikku yaiba" Naruto said as a sonic arc came from his katana. It intercepted the jutsu that was almost to Naruto and made it explode. Because Naruto was so close to the blast, the shock wave it sent off forced him off his feet and into the air.

'He created a sonic wave with his sword and chakra.' Durikaki thought staring as Naruto landed and slid across the ground from the dust that was picked up.

'That was close' Naruto thought as he saw the dust start to clear. Shido burst through the dust with his sword ready to stab Naruto. Naruto smirked as he leaned back watching the sword go over his head. Naruto swung his sword knocking Shido's katana from above him and leaned back up. He jumped up quickly as Shido punched and grabbed his wrist. He used his grip to swung his body around and plant his feet into the side of Shido's face. He let go of his wrist as Shido flew into the wall. Naruto landed gracefully with his nodachi resting on his shoulder. "You know, while this is mildly entertaining and all. I don't have all day. You know things to do, girls to ask on dates." Naruto said glancing at Saeko.

"Fuck you." Shido said growled out as he stood up.

"Sorry I don't swing that way. Maybe you should seek out my teammate Sasuke. He just happens to gay. And I saw him give you glances." Naruto said.

"HEY DON'T CALL SASUKE-KUN GAY!!" Ino and Sakura yelled over the laughing of the guys.

"TELL ME THAT WHEN HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND!!" Naruto yelled back. Shido took this moment of distraction and did some hand seals.

"Katon: Kaogawa" Shido said blowing out fire.

"Naruto! Pay attention!" Shisou yelled out. Naruto quickly looked back towards Shido to see a steam of fire head towards him. Naruto's eyes glazed over as the fire reached him. The fire engulfed him pushing him back into the wall.

"Naruto!!" Sakura screamed out. After a few seconds the fire died down revealing ash.

"Ha, ha, ha. I burned him to ash." Shido said.

Saeko looked to her right seeing Naruto resting with his right hand that still gripped his nodachi on the hand seal statue and his face shadowed by his hair. 'Hn, I didn't see him escape.' She thought. She noticed that his left arm has burn marks on them and his pants were burned while steam rose from his body. 'So he didn't fully escape.'

'I thought I over came that.' Naruto thought looking up at Shido who was laughing. Suddenly instead of Shido standing there, it was a man Naruto recognized all too clearly. Naruto's eyes clouded over with hate as he stared at him not realizing his nodachi was flashing a black color. After a few seconds it stopped flashing returning to its original silver color. Naruto lifted his sword as the form of a dragon could be seen wrapping around him.

'What's this?' A mist-nin with red spiky hair and brown eyes thought. He had his hitai-ate tied around his forehead with bangs of hair coving most of it and a tooth necklace around his neck. His clothing was a long sleeved brown shirt with red pants that had chains dangling. His name was Honu Katamaru.

"I…" Naruto started catching everyone's attention.

"What…I thought" Shido said looking back over to the ash than back to Naruto.

"I…I…I hate fire!!" Naruto growled out rushing toward Shido his irises a dull red color with slits for pupils. Shido watched as Naruto fazed out and was replaced by a large gold and black color dragon. Shido looked at him shocked before swinging his sword down at the dragon. The dragon dodged it easily and charged right into Shido flinging him into the air.

'What the fuck?' Everyone thought as they watched the dragon soar towards Shido. The dragon flew by him slashing him with its claws on the way up. Then it turned in the air and rushed at Shido again. Shido saw the dragon turn back and swung his blade at it. The dragon dodged again and went pass him. As the dragon went pass him it slashed his shoulder. The dragon came back around as Shido spun in the air towards it. He put his sword in a position to defend only for the dragon to pass him again cutting his arm and cracking his sword. Shido didn't have time to notice as the dragon turned and came back at him. He did a few hand seals and pointed his hands at the dragon. "Nibai tsuki haretsu!" Shido shouted. Two white balls shot off towards the dragon. The balls hit the dragon on its head causing a small explosion. Shido fell to the ground hitting it hard with his blood flowing from his wounds.

Naruto fell from the dark cloud a few seconds later and hit the ground hard. After a few seconds Naruto pushed himself off the ground blood flowing from his forehead, his eyes narrowed in a glare. He wiped the blood off his head before getting into a new stance. He turned to his left side his and spread his legs. He bent his right leg resting his weight on it while his left was slid outward. He had both hands near his legs on the hilt and had his katana pointing behind him. "Get up." Naruto said with an anger filled tone.

"Shut up." Shido snarled. Shido tried to push himself off the ground but failed. Naruto narrowed his eyes but waited.

'That stance…This is the kid she taught?' Hayate thought narrowing his eyes.

"Why is he waiting?" Ino asked.

"Naruto got this fucking honor code. He never attacks a guy who down." Shisou said.

"Doesn't he know that he is a ninja?" Kiba asked.

"He doesn't really care." Shisou said as Shido managed to stand up.

He lifted up his sword and ran toward Naruto though his eyes were hazy from the blood lost. Naruto got ready for the last strike and gripped the hilt of his nodachi with both hands tightly. Naruto waited as Shido swung his sword horizontally toward his chest. Everyone in the area felt a slight breeze as Naruto swung his blade upward. His blade sliced straight threw the ground as he brought it downward and bring it up to Shido. Surprise displayed on Shido's face as Naruto's Nodachi sliced through his sword. Naruto quickly twisted the blade so the edge was facing towards Shido and swung it downward. Shido let out a painful yell as the nodachi sliced it way from his collar bone to his right side. Blood sprayed from his wound as he fell to the right side of Naruto. After a few seconds of Shido not moving Hayate figured the match was done.

"Winner of the match Uzumaki Naruto." He said.

"Great job Naruto!" Shisou yelled out.

"Who would have though the dead last would be so good?" Kiba whispered.

"Ohhh! Naruto-kun flames of Youth burn as brightly as a thousand suns!!" Lee yelled out.

"Hell yeah that was great!" Sakura cheered.

'Finally someone kicks his ass.' Katsu thought.

'His sword changed color briefly.' Saeko thought watching Naruto clean his blade and pick up the scabbard.

'He is strong but I will kill him and his brother.' Neji thought. Naruto put the sword in the scabbard and looked over to Shido briefly.

"That was so cool!" A girl with mid length blonde hair and green eyes said. She had on a blue tank top with black baggy pants with mist swiveling around her pant legs. Her name was Kiri Kagura. "And he looks so cute!" She said with hearts in her eyes. Durikaki smiled as his other teammate took on a calculated look.

'I could have sworn I saw his hair change from black to blonde as he fell.' Katamaru thought.

Naruto smirked as he walked over to the stairs as a medical squad came out to help Shido. 'Damn my head hurts.' Naruto thought touching the wound on his forehead. He looked at his finger to find blood on them and tilted his head. 'I was careless.'

"Kakashi you trained your students well." Gai whispered. Kakashi nodded though he was questioning Naruto's skill.

"I have to agree with that." Asuma said.

"Naruto that was awesome!" Sakura yelled out. Naruto grinned as he walked near Shisou.

"Hey Naruto clean off your forehead." Shisou said.

"Yeah, yeah" Naruto said as Shisou took out a cloth. He tossed it at Naruto which he caught. "So that was your Dance of the Dragon?" He asked.

"Yep" Naruto said wiping the blood off his head.

"That was one neat technique. You're going to have to teach it to me." Shisou said.

"Not a chance in hell" Naruto replied.

"Why not?" Shisou said narrowing his eyes.

"Because you're not a Kenjutsu type like you said." Naruto said with a smirk.

"That doesn't mean I can't learn it." Shisou said eye twitching.

"But than you would never use it since you don't have a sword." Naruto replied. Shisou seem to think it over before turning to the black screen that was switching through names.

"Your right." He said.

"I'm always right." Naruto said smirking.

"Don't flatter your self. This is a one time occurrence." Shisou replied smirking.

"You're going to say it again soon enough." Naruto said as the screen stopped on two names.

Tamotsu Katsu

Vs.

Honu Katamaru

The two teens looked across at each other. Katsu had an eerie smirk on his face while Katamaru had a frown. Katsu was about to walk down when Katamaru raised his hand up. "Examiner I forfeit." He said. Everyone looked at him while his teammates looked surprised.

"Kata-kun…" Kaguara started.

"Are you sure?" Hayate asked.

"Yeah." He said.

"The winner of the eighth match is Tamotsu Katsu." He said.

"Why did you forfeit?" Durikaki asked.

"Because if I would have fought him, I wouldn't have came out of it alive." He replied.

"And you're sure of this?" Durikaki asked. Katamaru looked at Katsu who shrugged and turned back to his teammate.

"Yeah. He is stronger than I am. Avoid fighting him." Katamaru said. His two teammates nodded and looked towards the screen as it shifted again.

Hyuuga Neji

Vs.

Sabaku no Kankuro.

Naruto was leaning on the wall bored out of his mind. Sure some of the matching were entertaining but the rest were boring. With a few well placed strikes Kankuro was out cold. The match after that was Ten-ten vs. Kiri Kagura. The cute Kagura defeated the equally cute Ten-ten with ease using a mixture of water jutsus and a well placed kunai.

Then it was the sexy Sabaku no Temari vs. Kiba. To say this was a fast match would be an understatement. She knocked both Kiba and his dog out with two whirlwind attacks with her fan though Naruto thought it was cool well anything that has to do with wind was cool in his books.

The match after that was Sabaku no Gaara vs. Rock Lee. The match was very entertaining. Though Lee lost it was one of the greatest matches of the chuunin exam. It was too bad he got his arm and leg crushed Naruto would have loved to fight him afterward.

The final match was Uzumaki Shisou vs. Tsurugi Misumi. Though it was his brother's match he would say it was rather fast, too fast. As soon as the match began Shisou appeared behind Misumi and hit a pressure point on his neck knocking him out cold.

"To all you who have won the rights to compete in the "third round test" in the chuunin exam _koff _one is missing but…Congratulations to you all." Hayate said. Hayate looked towards the hokage who started to explain the third test. After he was finished he told each of them to draw a number from the box that Ibiki had. He genin did what they were told and drew a number. After they all had drew one they each told Anko their number. She then scribbled something down on a note of paper. When she finished, she held it out for everyone to see.

"These are the match ups for the first round." Anko said.

First Match: Hyuuga Neji vs. Uchiha Sasuke

Second Match: Uzumaki Naruto vs. Busujima Saeko

Third Match: Sabaku no Temari vs. Kiri Kagura

Fourth Match: Sabaku no Gaara vs. Nara Shikamaru

Fifth match: Kinuta Dosu vs. Tamotsu Katsu

Sixth match: Maki Durikaki vs. Uzumaki Shisou

Each one of the competitors eyed their opponent.

'Right in the first round?' Saeko thought.

'I get to fight her. Cool' Naruto thought ecstatically.

'Hn, Durikaki.' Shisou thought.

'I have bad luck. Fighting that weakling.' Katsu thought.

'Uzumaki Shisou, I should do some research on him and his brother.' Durikaki thought.

'Troublesome…Why do I have to face him.' Shikamaru thought.

"I have a question." Naruto said with his hand raised.

"What is it?" The hokage asked.

"Why are the matches set up so the winner of the match between the winners of the first and second match has to face the winner of the third match and the winner of the fourth match has to face the winner of the winners between the fifth and sixth match?" Naruto asked. (Think of it like this if Sasuke won and Saeko won and Temari won Temari would face the winner of Sasuke and Saeko's match. It's the same with the last three matches.)

"Because it's more interesting that way." Anko said before the Hokage could speak.

"You have a month to train before the main matches," The Sandaime said, "I suggest you use that time well."

"Why a month?" Shikamaru asked.

"Because we have to send out invitations for everyone who has to be here to witness the exam," Sandaime replied, "The judges will decide who becomes Chuunins and not."

"Judges?" Shino asked.

"In this exam," Sandaime explained, "The ones who get promoted to Chuunins are those that show the judges that they have the qualities of a Chuunin. A ninja's true strength can only be measured in combat, and that's the purpose of the main matches. Judges are made up of important people from the villages, including the daimyo of the different countries. If that is all everyone is dismissed" He said.

Everyone quickly left ready to get training. Naruto was about to go home before he was tapped on the shoulder. He turned back to see Shisou. "Yeah?" Naruto asked.

"I suggest you get training from your sensei. It might be helpful to now some ninjutsu not based on swords." Shisou said before walking off. Naruto smiled before running off to look for Kakashi. After twenty minutes Naruto found himself in a hospital. He looked around briefly before finding Kakashi walking from the stairs.

"Hey! Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto shouted

Kakashi, sensing what he was going say, cut him off before he could start, "Sorry Naruto, I can't train you."

"Why can't you?" Naruto asked with a frown.

"Because I don't have the time to. But, I've lined up a teacher for you, an Elite Jounin who, in fact, is a better teacher than me." Kakashi replied.

"In other words you will be taking your time in training one on one with Sasuke instead of training all of us at once." Naruto said.

"Naruto…" Kakashi said narrowing his eyes.

"Just go on and train Sasuke. He'll still get beat up" Naruto said turning around and leaving.

'That brat' Kakashi thought angrily.

He arrived in five minutes at a training spot. Naruto looked around the training area with a smirk.

'A river, a few training post, and a lot of trees. Perfect.' Naruto thought. 'First to add weights.' Naruto thought taking out a scroll. He unraveled it and bit his thumb hard enough to draw blood. He wiped it on the kanji cover scroll and in a puff of smoke two white gauntlets and black greaves appeared. Naruto quickly put them, making sure they were secure. 'Now what did Shisou said? Oh yeah add chakra to make them heavier' Naruto thought. He added chakra to the gauntlets and greaves and like in a blur he was imbedded into the ground. 'Damn, I added to much chakra.' Naruto thought decreasing the amount of chakra. He felt the weight decrease and stood up in a slouch. He held that amount of chakra as he started to do a light workout which consists of 200 push-ups, sit-ups, punches with both hands against the post, kicks with both legs, squats, and laps around the area.

After he was finished and took a short break to catch his breath and he drew his nodachi. He turned to his left side his and spread his legs. He bent his right leg resting his weight on it while his left was slid outward. He had both hands near his legs on the hilt and had his katana pointing behind him. He took deep breaths as he got ready to go through his kata.

Saeko watched intensely behind a tree as Naruto went through his kata. She spotted him on the street and started to follow him discreetly. She saw the reaction of the people as he walked pass and found herself asking questions though they wouldn't give her a good answer. Only telling her that he was a monster and that she should stay away from him but not telling why. She broke her train of thought and looked at Naruto's form. 'No wasted movement, good foot work, his stance is for defense but could change to offense at anytime. This style would be hard to win against if my suspicions are right. But that makes this much better.' She thought. She watched carefully as he jumped up spinning.

"Uzumaki-ryu hiden: Kenjutsu no Ougi- Arashi no mai " Naruto said as he spun. Wind started to gather around him as he spun. It compressed around the blade of his katana. Naruto stopped spinning and swung his katana unleashing the wind. The wind blew back the trees as gash marks appeared on the trucks. Saeko covered her face as the wind started to push her back. She smirked as she used chakra to stick to the ground. "Ryuujin kaze no Hogosha." Naruto said swinging his katana again. The wind around him changed into the shape of a dragon and flew towards the trees and blew back or sliced through every three in its path or next to it. Naruto came down looking at the destruction his jutsu caused. He landed back in his stance with a smirk on his face. He panted heavily as he made a hand seal.

'Hn, I should get to my own training.' She thought before disappearing in a blur.

Naruto turned his head to the side sensing the person watching him leave. "Hn, I guess I could get serious now." Naruto said. "Kage Bunshin no jutsu." He said. In a puff of smoke another Naruto appeared in front of him. They both got into their stance and stared at each other. Both of them closed their eyes in concentration.

_FlashBack_

"_A sword is weapon to both protect and destroy. You must choose for yourself which you will use it for. I can only teach you and show you the paths to the future. Whether or not you follow my path or your own is up to you. Do you understand?" A silver haired female said. _

"_Hai." A seven year old Naruto replied with a determined look on his face._

"_Hn, I'll teach you a style called Fukyuu arashi-ryū. My strongest style." She said. _

"_Hai!" Naruto said with a smile. She got into a stance and closed her eyes. _

"_First you have too…_

"Follow to the wind." Naruto finished as the wind blew pass him. Both Naruto and his clone disappeared momentarily before reappeared a few meters from each other, with their backs to each other and wind blowing wildly around them. Slash impressions was on the ground in the middle of them. They both turned around only to disappear a second later. The clang of metal rang through the area as the two fought.

A few hours later.

Shisou came to see gashes on the ground cut down trees and Naruto falling to the ground unconscious. He looked at the sky to see the moon at the highest point. "Why do you have to be a train-a-holic?" He asked himself as he approached Naruto. He looked at him with a calculating look before kneeling down next to him. He took Naruto's nodachi and gazed at it. He then looked down at Naruto. He looked back at the sword for a few seconds before sheathing it in Naruto's scabbard with a small smile on his face. Shisou picked him up and placed him over his right shoulder. He held him in place as he held his sword in his left. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The next day 

Naruto woke up with a start. He yawned as he got out of bed. Naruto got up and started his morning routine. After thirty minutes Naruto was finished. Naruto wore black pants and a black shirt. He has on his gauntlets and shinguards, his katana strapped on his back, and a kunai pouch on each leg. He walked towards the kitchen and looked around to see the cabinets locked with chains and a note on it. He went over to the cabinet and took the note off.

"I went out early for training. I suggest you do the same. And no ramen for breakfast. I added new chakra locks and unbreakable chains." Naruto read out loud. Naruto's eyes widen before he checked the locks. "No, no! Shisou you bastard you took my Ramen away!!" He screamed.

In another area 

"Did you just hear that?" Kurenai asked.

"Nope, I didn't hear anything." Shisou replied with a smirk on his face.

"It sounded like somebody called you a bastard." Kiba said.

"Nope you're just imagining it." Shisou said getting into his stance. "Now come on." He said.

Back to Naruto

Naruto locked the door with a frown on his face. 'Shisou even stole my wallet. I'll get him. Oh how I will get him' Naruto thought smirking.

With Shisou

"Achoo" Shisou sneezed. He whipped his nose before looking in the direction of his apartment. 'Someone must be plotting against me' Shisou thought before dodging some bugs.

Back with Naruto 

Naruto arrived at his training area only to be greeted by the examiner from the chuunin exams. 'Gekko Hayate. What is he doing here?' Naruto thought.

"Hello" He said before he coughed.

"Um…hi. What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"I've been _koff_ looking for you." He said.

"Really? For what?" Naruto asked suspiciously.

"I came to _koff _help you with your kenjutsu." He said.

"I don't need help with my Kenjutsu. Besides you don't even know the style" Naruto said before he started to walk away.

"Fukyuu arashi-ryū." Hayate said. Naruto stopped and turned to him with a shocked look. "What _koff_ you didn't know who helped her form that style." Hayate said.

"She didn't mention it." Naruto said walking back to him.

"Well I did help her form it. _Koff _And from what you did earlier you still have a lot of things to learn about _koff_ it." He said.

"Like what?" Naruto asked.

"Hn, I'll only tell you if you let me teach you." Hayate said before he coughed again. Naruto didn't even have to think about it as he nodded quickly. "Good let's start." He said.

* * *

Fukyuu arashi-ryū: Eternal storm style

Katon: Kaogawa- Fire release: Fire Stream

Tsuki haretsu: Moon burst

Sonikku yaiba: Sonic blade

Nibai Tsuki haretsu: Double moon burst

Uzumaki-ryu hiden: Kenjutsu no Ougi- Arashi no mai- Uzumaki style hidden technique: Supreme Kenjutsu Technique- Dance of the storm.

Ryuujin kaze no Hogosha- Dragon god- guardian of the wind.

A.n

The reason It took me so long to update this, is because for some reason I feel like it's missing something and for the life of me I can't figure out what. Anyway I hope you like it and please review it motivates me to update faster.


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